


The New Potters

by astridlilypotter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Multi, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, Swearing, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 06:56:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astridlilypotter/pseuds/astridlilypotter
Summary: Astrid and Jackson Potter are the two lone survivors of a Death Eater attack, and are sent back to December 21, 1995, London. There, they find that Time itself had sent them, and for what mission?





	1. Chapter 1 - Death Eaters and Grimmauld Place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings - Mild violence and strong language. Mention of character death.

Astrid was exhausted. She leaned against the locked bathroom door, and slid to the ground. Everything was too loud, too much. The shouting, the shattering of glass, and finally, the stomping up the stairs. She was too tired to hide, too tired to put up a fight again. He almost never came upstairs, and when he did it was never good. 

It soon felt like the whole house was shaking, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Was that her heart pounding in her ears? His fist slamming against the door? Was she trembling in fear, or was the whole world coming to an end? But the shaking stopped, and the rumbling silenced. And the whole house was still. 

She opened her eyes to see the bathroom far different than how she’d seen it last. The mirror was shattered, and the shower rod had fallen. Astrid hesitated to open the door, but she just had to move. The man, Rick, was nowhere to be seen, so she continued to the stairs. The living room had fared worse than the rest of the house. The TV had fallen over, and her mother’s china cabinets were destroyed. The chandelier had crashed to the floor. 

“Astrid?”

“Jack?” Astrid tread lightly over the glass and into the kitchen. Her brother, Jackson, was standing just inside the door to the garage. “You okay?” 

He nodded. “You?” 

“Yeah. Where is everyone? When did you get home?”

“I got here ten minutes ago. Mom and Rick were in the living room, I thought.”  
“I thought so, too. Should we report them missing?”

Astrid was reaching for her phone when she heard another crashing noise from the living room.

“Hello? Anybody home?” A woman’s voice shouted. 

“No one’s going to answer that,” a man replied. “Not since you already alerted the whole neighborhood by knocking down the door.”

Astrid picked up a leg from the collapsed dining room table and crept up to the wall separating her from the living room. She peered around the corner, peering through the dust. The woman in the doorway was wearing a long cloak, and had a shock of pink hair. The man was wearing a shabbier version of the same cloak, over a collared shirt and tie. 

_They’ve gotta be crazy,_ Astrid thought _._ She turned and was about to tell Jackson to sneak out the backdoor and run like hell, when she bumped into something. Someone. 

Astrid swung around, narrowly missing the large man’s nose with her table-leg sword. Before she could her bearings, he grabbed her by the collar and held her against the wall. He was brandishing a much smaller stick, no match for Astrid’s. 

“Ah ha! What do we have here? Caught at the scene of the cr- OUCH!” Astrid swung her club as hard and she could into his side, and he dropped her unceremoniously. Jackson shoved the man down and they ran into the other room.

The two strangers now had drawn weapons of their own- wooden sticks similar to the other man’s. Astrid still brandished her club, but was much less confident against the two. 

“Who are you?” The woman asked, pointing her stick at Astrid. 

“Why should I tell you?” She said warily. 

“We can help you, if you tell us,” the man in the shabby cloak said, lowering his weapon. At no reply, he spoke again. “My name is Remus Lupin. We’re here because this house was attacked. We were told that there were no survivors, and we needed to investigate.” 

“Attacked?” Jackson asked. He had nothing to defend himself with, but had taken to watching their backs. “There was an earthquake.”

“I understand that this is confusing for you two. We just want to help, if you tell us your names.” Astrid tightened her grip as the man took a step forward. There was scuffling from behind her, and Jackson grabbed her wrist. 

“Call off your fucking attack dog!” Jackson hissed. Astrid glanced behind her, and the man who had attacked her had recovered. He was big, and had a scarred, grizzled face. To top it off, he was missing a chunk of his nose and wore an eye patch. 

“Hey, he’s a renowned auror! Show some respect!” The woman retorted.

While the man didn’t rear on them again, he glared as he passed them, and never lowered his weapon. “Never let yer guard down! They could be Death Eaters!”

 _This is getting out of hand,_ Astrid thought. _Remus Lupin? Death Eaters?_

“ _Revelio!_ ” The man shouted. Astrid immediately felt like a bucket of ice water was dumped over her head. 

“Alastor, they’re kids! They’re not Death Eaters!” Remus said tiredly. The man, _Alastor_ , argued again, but the woman interrupted. 

“Don’t mind him, he’s being paranoid!” She waved him off lazily. “The name’s Tonks. That’s Mad-Eye.”

“You guys are crazy,” Jackson said. 

“Maybe they’re Muggles?” Tonks asked Remus. 

“No, then how did they survive? This has to be them,” he said.

“Muggles! Okay, that’s enough!” Astrid reached into her back pocket for her phone, but it wouldn’t even turn on. “You guys are _insane!_ God, when did this all happen, 1996?”

“It’s 1995,” Remus said, and Astrid rolled her eyes. “Look, I know we have a lot of explaining to do, and it sounds crazy, but please, let us help you.”

Astrid glanced at her brother, then the kitchen, and back again. Jackson nodded, but it probably looked more like a twitch it was so small. Without turning back to the intruders, she chucked her weapon at them and sprinted after Jackson into the kitchen and into the garage.

Jackson hit the button to open the door one, two, three times. Each time harder than the last, but it wouldn’t work. 

“Come on, god damn it!” He hit it one more time for good measure, before giving up. He picked up the baseball bat that had been leaning against the wall just as the door opened. 

“ _Expelliarmus!”_ Jackson’s weapon flew out of his hands like it was nothing. Astrid was starting to panic- _this shouldn’t be happening!_

“Wait! We’re not trying to hurt you!” A man’s voice shouted. Probably Remus, if Astrid had to guess. But she didn’t _care._ This was _crazy_. 

She set her shoulders, fully prepared to take on these people with her fists, but Jackson hesitated

“What if they’re telling the truth?” He asked. Astrid looked into the doorway again. Remus and Tonks had their wands lowered. Astrid nodded. 

“Okay, we surrender,” she said. Mad-Eye still did not let down his guard. 

“C’mon, Mad-Eye, they’re not going to fight us. They’re just kids,” Tonks said. 

“Why are you here?” Jackson breathed. The twins were both still reeling from their run. 

“Your house has been attacked-”

“Yeah, thanks,” Astrid snarled. 

“Oh, she’s funny!” Tonks said sassily with a grin. 

“-By Death Eaters, I mean,” Remus explained. “We were told by the Ministry that there were no survivors, but we had reason to believe otherwise. We’re here to help you.” 

Astrid’s mind was buzzing. This wasn’t possible. At first she thought it was all a coincidence- the names and the talk about Muggles. But the disarming charm had worked. And Remus had said it was 1995…

“Help us how?” Jackson asked. 

“We have a place for you to stay. Hopefully we can get you two up to speed- and since you’ve been attacked, our goal is to keep you guys safe.”

“And our parents?” Jackson asked finally. 

Remus frowned at him. “I- I’m sorry. The Ministry said there were no survivors… A man and a woman were found just outside. It doesn’t seem like they were in any pain, but…”

They nodded solemnly. 

“Come on,” Remus said, leading the group back out of the garage and out the front door. 

There were two bodies, looking unharmed, lying in the grass. For once, they weren't shouting or throwing things. In fact, they could almost be napping.

"I'm sorry Jackson, Astrid. There was nothing we could do," Remus said quietly. 

Neither were particularly emotional about their parent’s death. Rick wasn’t even their dad, and it wasn’t like he loved them anyways. And their mom- she hadn’t really been around in a while. 

"I'm so sorry about your parents. We can offer you guys a place to stay, for now," Tonks offered. Astrid thought for a moment before agreeing. Normally, she would not be inclined to move in with strangers , but there were no other options.

"Thank you. Just for a few days, don't want to intrude...," Astrid said, running on autopilot. "Someone 'll take us for work, I'm sure. All right, Elliott?" She turned to him, and he nodded, not meeting anyone's eyes.

“We’ll sort something out. In the meantime, our rides are here!” Tonks said gleefully. She gestured to the five broomsticks that were laid out on the sidewalk. Astrid’s mind was still reeling- they were going to fly? She turned to Jackson, who was already standing next to his broom. He glanced up and smiled at her. He was always better under pressure, anyways.

“Up!” He said, and the broomstick flew up into his hand. He grinned at her again. “Alright, you’re turn.”

“Up!” Sure enough, the handle snapped into her palm. Like magic. “This is insane,” she whispered. 

“Oh, for sure, dude,” he whispered back. “Do we have any other options?” Astrid shook her head. 

Mad-Eye nodded approvingly. "That sorts it. Okay, follow Tonks, and I'll take the rear. Maybe we can double back, go a little off North so we are not being followed. Even th-"

"Mad-Eye! It's December! We are going straight there, or we will never make it!" Tonks shouted. “We’ll, let’s make sure you two can fly straight.” 

Astrid kicked off as hard as she could, and she wobbled for a few moments as she pitched forward, but she regained her balance. Jackson soared up next to her. 

Soon, they were moving so fast it was too windy for conversation. 

Now Astrid had time to think. _Twenty-four years. With magic and Death Eaters and broomsticks. And what ever Mad-Eye Moody packed in their suitcase._ Astrid blinked a few times, just to be sure she wasn’t dreaming, or having a nightmare. _We’re fucked._

When they touched down, it was in a gloomy neighborhood, with no streetlights. This was a blessing and a curse. They weren't seen, but Astrid almost tumbled when she touched down, stubbing her toe hard on the curb.

Tonks wasted no time in showing Astrid and Jackson the slip of paper with the address. ' _Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place_ ,' in tall, loopy letters. As they read it, the house appeared on the street.

After two knocks at the door, a dim entry way greeted them. But, surprisingly, the house smelled of pine and cranberries. And underneath it, what could only be described as cleaning chemicals and mold.

There was loud caroling coming down from the decorated staircase, and the man singing them only stopped when he saw the new arrivals.

"'Sup?" Jackson said, although barely containing his excitement. Astrid stamped on his foot with her boot. "Ow, Az!"

"Hello," she said politely. The man glanced between the two. He had sallow skin, and long, unkempt hair, just as she had imagined.

"I thought the Ministry said there were no survivors," he said, squinting at Astrid and Jackson. He only looked at Remus when he spoke up.

“They did, but we had reason to believe there were. And they needed a place to stay,” Remus said, and looked at Sirius with a knowing stare. Sirius frowned and nodded. 

“Well, you can stay as long as you’d like. I’m Sirius, and you?”

“Jackson, and this is Astrid.”

“I’m sure there’s a gaggle of teenagers somewhere who are willing to show you around. And dinner is just about done, as well,” he said, and started into the kitchen. 

“Go ahead, take Lo and get something to eat. I’ll be there in a second,” Astrid mumbled. Astrid just needed to think. “Remus, sorry, where’s a bathroom?” 

“Upstairs, first door on the left.” 

She nodded and hurried up the stairs, not looking up and hoping to avoid anyone. Astrid had made it to the landing without interruption, and shut the door to the bathroom. It was dark and didn’t smell perfect, but it was much quieter than the rest of the house. 

_I really need to talk to Jackson_ , she thought, leaning against the door. _Surely, there must be a reason we’re here. Lives to save, something to change? Maybe something went wrong…_ To think, everyone she’s met today ends up dead before the end of the series. One of them in, what, six months? She took a deep breath and stood up. She shouldn’t leave Jackson to his own devices for too long, anyways. 

She’d just stepped out onto the landing when she was shoved into the wall for the second time that day, wand at her neck.

" _Who are you and how did you get in?"_ He demanded, green eyes boring into Astrid's. For a split second, she took in the messy black hair, lightning scar, and the glasses, and she was sure he was doing the same to her. Astrid was about to shove him off when the boy fell to the floor. 

"Dude! Why do you all keep doing that!" Jackson snapped, flexing his hand. The boy on the carpet was holding his ribs. “Next time someone tries to hurt my sister, it’ll be worse!”

“That’s a lot, Jack. I had it,” Astrid said tiredly. Before he could retort, two other teens came downstairs and stood next to the first. They all had their wands drawn

“Who are you?” The dark-haired girl asked. 

“Who are you?” Astrid remarked. She already knew who all three of these people were, if she had to guess. 

"We asked you first, plus, we live here, so tell us!" The other boy demanded. He was taller than the other two, with a shock of ginger hair.

"I'm Jackson, and this is Astrid. Sorry for surprising you guys like this,” he said. 

"I'm Hermione, and this is Harry, and Ron," the girl said, gesturing to the bespectacled and ginger haired boys respectively. "Not to be rude, but why are you guys here?"

"Ah, Death Eater attack. Tonks, Remus, and M-Mad-eye, is that what you all call him? They brought us here," Astrid explained, not going into detail. The trio finally put their wands down, and the two sighed in relief.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” Hermione said sincerely. “And I’m sorry on Harry’s behalf that he attacked you out of nowhere,” she scolded, and flicked Harry in the forehead. 

"Yeah, yeah, all right. I am sorry," Harry admitted, rubbing his face. Hermione smiled at them, and scooted around them to go to dinner. 

_CRACK_

"I heard there were twins in the house!"

"Did you know, there's a law that says if two sets of twins are in the same place, they have to fight to the death?"

Jackson and Astrid nearly jumped out of their skins at the Apparition of whom they could only guess were the Weasley twins.

" _Jesus fucking Christ_ ," Jackson said loudly, and Astrid was just trying to make sure she didn't topple down the stairs.

"Oh, yeah, you guys look like twins," Ron said scratching is chin. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"Didn't come up," Jackson wheezed..

"I'm Fred, and this is George! Pleased to meet you both!" One twin (Astrid was unsure if it really _was_ Fred) said, and they alternated shaking their hands.

"Astrid."

"Jackson.” 

Astrid sighed tiredly. This day could not get any longer. 

"DINNER!" They looked down the stairs to see who the Potter Twins could only assume to be Mrs. Weasley yelling up at them. The teenagers raced down the stairs, with the new kids in tow.

"Ah, Astrid, dear, and Jackson. It is so nice to meet you," Mrs. Weasley said with a warm smile. "I am Mrs. Weasley, but you can both call me Molly." She gave them both bone-crushing hugs and led them to the table.

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley, for the place to stay and for dinner," Astrid said politely, taking a seat beside Hermione. Jackson nodded along, looking eagerly at the plates of food in front of him.

"Oh, of course, you're always welcome."

"So, Astrid, Jackson, you said you'd only stay a few days, are your parents coming to get you soon?" Fred asked, piling mashed potatoes high on his plate.

Seeing as Jackson already was chewing more than he could swallow, Astrid answered for the both of them. "Oh, um, no. They both died in the attack," she mumbled and passed the salad to the next person.

"Oh goodness, I'm sorry to hear that. Will you guys be coming to school with us, then?" Hermione said, placing a reassuring hand on Astrid's shoulder before continuing.

"Oh, no, we can't afford to, we ha-"

"Sure, why not!" Jackson said and kicking Astrid under the table. She glared at him, and he gave her a look that said _we'll talk about this later_.

"Excellent! We're desperately low on Quidditch players, do you think we could teach you?" Ron, turned excitedly towards Jackson. Astrid, who'd been curious, at least, coughed loudly. "Oh, yeah, there's two spots, if you're interested."

"Not that I couldn't kick Jackson's ass at anything," _(Language, Astrid!)_ , "I'm good. I just wanted to be considered," Astrid said coyly. Ron flushed red, and Hermione laughed behind her hand.

"Could help overhear- my name is Ginny. I say you try out. Those boys don't seem to consider us any good until we prove it to them." A red-haired girl shoved Ron's chair over to shake Astrid's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Ginny. And I appreciate the enthusiasm,” she said with a wink. 

The meal truly was delicious. It wasn't often that Jackson and Astrid had home-cooked meals, and when they did, they usually made them. They were both stuffed when Mrs. Weasley said it was time for bed.

"I hope you kids don't mind sharing a room; I'm afraid the only one left is quite small, but it is clean!" Mrs. Weasley led the newcomers up the stairs into a guest room, and it reminded them of all the Dark artifacts and creatures that lurked in the house.

"Sick, this stuff is cool," Jackson said, picking up a large, dusty book.

"So," Astrid whispered. "How do you plan on telling them we can't go to school, Jack?"

"What do you mean?" Jackson said, not looking up from the cover.

"Where do you think we're gonna get money from? Books? Robes? Anything?" Astrid interrogated, collapsing on the bed. 

"Surely there Mom and Rick left something for us. And I doubt Hogwarts just denies students because they have no money.”

"That's a lot of maybes. Also, now that I think about it, school’s not our biggest concern. Our biggest concern is _what the fuck is happening_ ," She hissed at him, hoping to get him to pay attention.

"I mean, I don't know. Maybe Albus Dumbledore himself is gonna explain this all to us," Jackson shrugged.

"Jack, I am worried you're not taking this seriously."

"Well, I'm worried you're taking it _too_ seriously," he quipped.

"Our parents are dead, Jackson. At least look at me and tell me I'm not dead or going crazy," Astrid said, pinching her wrist. Jackson sat on the bed next to her, putting down his book.

"Astrid, you're not dead or crazy. And everything will turn out. Anyway, we kinda hated mom and Rick, so I'm not that mad about it," he said, bumping her shoulder.

"You're an idiot."

"You love me."

"Eh."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First few chapters are heavily inspired by Potter written by @ Lilybrooks on Wattpad! Please check out her stuff :)


	2. Chapter 2 - Diagon Alley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Strong language, and a wholesome duel. Mentions of death and violence.

Astrid awoke the next morning with a start. The unfamiliar grey ceiling stared back at her as she took in the past eighteen hours. _I'm sleeping in Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place. In Britain. In 1995._ She turned to look at her brother, Jackson, snoring on the camp bed. _At least I'm not crazy._

She tiptoed around Jackson's sprawled limbs to the door. He was a heavy sleeper, but she didn't want to risk it.

_CRACK_

" _Shit!_ I'm awake, I'm awake!" Jackson shouted, scrambling to his feet, and Astrid guarded her face with her forearms. So much for sleeping in.

"Didn't mean to startle you, mate," a twin said, clapping a hand on Jackson's back. "Mum's sent us up to get you lot down for breakfast."

"Well, Fred, maybe the door next time," Jackson sighed, punching Fred lightly in the arm. The Weasley Twins blinked at each other.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George" he said, pointing to himself.

"No, you're not," Jackson said matter-of-factly. The Weasley's squinted at him, then at Astrid, who shrugged.

"Anyway, it's time for breakfast. Mum said she'll take us to Diagon Alley today," George announced. And with another _CRACK_ , they had left.

"I'm not down with that," Jackson said, shivering.

"Me neither. I'm gonna have a heart attack soon," Astrid said and opened the bedroom door, heading down the stairs. 

“Astrid, Jackson! Come on, come eat breakfast,” Molly beamed, patting them both on the cheeks. 

“Thank you, Mrs. Weasley,” Jackson said, and Astrid soon after. She was still waking up, and it was more difficult when it was so sudden. 

"You're very welcome, dears. Now if only those two would learn those kinds of manners!" Mrs. Weasley said, swatting the Weasley Twins on the back of their heads.

"You heard them yesterday! They're more foul-mouthed than we are!" Fred shouted, blocking her mother's weapon with mirth in his eyes. Jackson and Astrid flushed red, filling their mouths with food quickly.

"Not ideal, but they can say _thank you!"_ Mrs. Weasley scolded. She put a few more platters of breakfast on the table and sat down at the end. 

"So, Potters! We have to go to the bank first, to open your vault," she stated, eyeing Fred and George, who began whispering at the other end of the table.

"Um, we have no money...." Astrid mumbled. She wasn't sure if they had any access to what their mother and stepfather had. 

"Nonsense! I've already spoken to Bill, and he said there was one already waiting for the two of you." Their eyes widened. Money? For them?

"Good morning, Astrid, Jackson," Hermione said, sinking in a chair next to Astrid. 

"Good morning. Are you coming to Diagon Alley with us today?" Astrid asked, buttering a slice of toast.

"Ooh! If you don't mind, I've been meaning to order a few books, and I'm so far behind on Christmas gifts!" Hermione chirped. "Hopefully, the boys will be up soon, they won't want to be left behind."

"Hell yeah, do you think I could get a broomstick while we're there, Az?" Jackson asked around a mouthful of food ( _Language, Jackson!)._

"We'll see. They're expensive, I've heard," Astrid said. When they finished breakfast, the Potter Twins showered and dressed to prepare for their trip.

"What sort of thing do you bring to Diagon Alley?" Jackson asked, looking through his suitcase.

"No idea. An extra coat, probably. I have my backpack, so if you wanted to bring anything, you can," Astrid said, pulling her black bomber jacket around her shoulders. "Ah, I'm glad Alastor Moody packed my pre-calculus book. I'm sure this will really come in handy," Astrid laughed, tossing the heavy book onto the desk.

"Kids, it's time to go!" Mrs. Weasley shouted up the stairs.

"Can we come, too?" The Weasley twins asked in unison. Astrid and Jackson squinted at them; they never managed to get the synchronicity thing down.

"Oh, all right. Remus, you go first," Mrs. Weasley said.in defeat. 

"All right you two, you grab a handful of powder, and you speak loudly, and clearly. Watch Remus now," Mrs. Weasley explained, leading them to the fireplace. 

"Diagon Alley!" Remus shouted, throwing the Floo powder into the fireplace. In a rush of green flames, he disappeared. The Potters gave each other a look, thinking of the time they knew this went wrong. 

"All right, Jackson, you first. Astrid, you'll go after him." Astrid had an uneasy feeling in her stomach, being so separated from her only family. Something could easily go wrong here.

Jackson stepped into the fireplace, taking a handful of the grainy powder. He gave a determined look to his sister, and shouted, "Diagon Alley!" He, too, was engulfed in green flames.

"All right, Astrid, you next!" Mrs Weasley placed a reassuring hand on her back, and Astrid stepped forwards. The powder felt light in her hands, and some of it fell between her fingers before she wanted to let go. 

After a large breath, she shouted "Diagon Alley!" Astrid flew past many grates, soot flying past her face. It smelled mostly like sulfur, and a little bit like lemon. She did her best not to breathe in too much. Before she could really think, she was dumped onto the street.

"You made it!" Jackson said, clapping her roughly on the shoulder. She coughed dryly.

"Yeah, so did you. I was afraid you were gonna say the wrong thing just to be a dick," She quipped, punching his arm.

"You children! Fred was right, you are foul-mouthed," Remus said with a laugh. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, Remus. I just-," Astrid stammered.

"Oh, it's all right. I was fifteen, too, once," Remus admitted, eyes still twinkling with mirth. The twins smiled back at him.

Soon enough, the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione made it through the grate, and Mrs. Weasley did two headcounts ( _just to be sure!)._

"Come on now, up the road, hurry up," Mrs. Weasley corralled the teenagers up the road to Gringotts, the wizarding bank. 

"Mum?" A tall, ginger-haired man walked over to their group once they got inside. He had a long ponytail, and an earring with some sort of tooth in it. "Why'd you bring the whole lot?"

"Bill, you know you're happy to see us!" George quipped, and Bill punched his shoulder lightly.

"A little warning would have been nice, you dolt. Where are the new kids?" Bill asked, peering over the gangling bunch of Weasleys. 

"Oh, of course. Bill, this is Astrid and Jackson, they were the only two that survived the Death Eater attack. Oh, go on you lot, Remus will help you get your things," Mrs. Weasley batted away the other teenagers, who were trying to listen in on the story. They went with Remus to the front desk. 

"Nice to meet you two. Follow me, I already got your vault squared away," Bill said, escorting them around a few corners. 

"About that, we never opened a vault, and our mother was a muggle. We don't know a lot about out father, is this.... his?" Astrid said, trying to focus while taking in all there was about the bank. There were expansive marble floors and glittering chandeliers around every turn.

"Yes, it was. He left it under your names, specifically. It seemed he wanted no one else in your family to access it, oddly," Bill said, following a particularly hook-nosed goblin.

"No, that makes sense," Jackson said, not caring to elaborate. "So, he was a wizard, then?"

" _Was he?_ Yeah, I mean, of course he was. He's a P-"

"Bill, I think that's quite enough," Mrs. Weasley said, patting her son on the shoulder. He blinked at her, but did not go on.

"Ah, here we are. To Vault 463, please, Lurgfid." They climbed into the rickety cart, and in no time, were racing down the tracks.

"Put your arms down, you twat," Astrid scolded Jackson, who was whooping and cheering on the way down as if it was a roller coaster. After a few moments, the cart screeched to a halt,

"Vault 463. Key please." Bill pulled a golden key out of his front pocket.

"When you turn seventeen, you guys can split this down the middle, but for now, you have to share the vault," Bill explained as Lurgfid opened the large door, revealing a small fortune.

"That's insane," Jackson breathed. "Can I please get a broomstick? Astrid there is absolutely no reason for me _not_ to get a broomstick and I sw-

"Yes, but not the most expensive one. We have to be smart about this," Astrid sighed. "And you have to share." This time, she did not scold his whooping and hollering on their way back up to the surface.

"Ah, just in time! I know you wanted to get some Christmas shopping done, Molly, so why don't I take these two to get their wands?" Remus said, gathering the scattered teens he was supposed to be watching.

"Splendid idea, Remus! Come on, you lot, _Fred don't touch that!"_ Mrs. Weasley shouted.

"Sounds like they’re a lot of work,” Astrid laughed. “Although, I can't guarantee he'll be any better. He has been demanding a broomstick since we got here," she joked, shoving her brother off balance. 

"Well, we'll see if we have time, since we need to get your books and robes. Come on, wand first!" Remus led the Potter twins down the road a block, before stopping by an ancient-looking storefront. With the sound of a bell they entered the shop.

"Hello?" Jackson asked loudly. Alice rolled her eyes at him, and waited for the famous wand maker to appear, as he always did. 

"You two are _very late,"_ an aged old man said, turning around the corner of a large shelf. The twins stared at him for a moment, unable to come up with anything to say.

"Oh, well, um-"

"No matter. You first, Miss." Ollivander began measuring, the length of her arm, each of her fingers, around her head. She stopped paying attention to watch Ollivander scuttle around, picking up boxes.

"Ah ha! You know, twins usually have twin wands. The Weasleys, as I am sure you have met by now, share the same dragon heart string, those two," Ollivander muttered to himself. "But not always, no, sometimes..." He disappeared behind a shelf once more, and reappeared with half-a-dozen boxes stacked in his arms.

"You next, then," Ollivander said, beckoning to Jackson, and the tape measured moved onto him.

"Miss Potter," he mumbled, placing a wand into Astrid's hand. "Well?"

She blinked at him, before waving her wand at the clock on the wall which crashed to the floor.

"Nope! No, not that one, no." He placed that one carefully into its box, before pulling out another. "Here you are, Mr. Potter. Give that one a try."

Jackson bounced on the balls of his feet, barely containing a grin. He jabbed the wand at the spindly chair in the corner which collapse. He quickly frowned and put the wand on the counter. "Ah, that's all right." Ollivander mumbled, wondering aloud. "I wonder, hmm, yes. Ah! Here, try these." He pulled out two white boxes, placing one in front of each of the twins. Behind them, Remus was watching with interest.

"Go on, then! I have a good feeling..." The twins glanced at one another and waved their wands. Glittering gold sparks came out of Jackson's wand, and a similar silver came of Astrid's. "Yes! Oh, of course. Phoenix feather, Maple, And Cherry wood for you. Eleven inches!" Ollivander clapped giddily.

"Phoenix feather? Are they from the same one?" Jackson asked, peering closely at his wand.

"Yes, of course. Of course, the phoenix's sister, gave your cousin a wand as well!" Ollivander said, smiling knowingly.

"We don’t have any cousins," Astrid said. Well, at least not yet. Their cousins weren't born until many years into the future.

"Of course you do! Your father, William Potter, is the brother of _James Potter!"_ Ollivander clapped again, ready to launch into more back story. “That means-!”

"Thank you, Ollivander, I can explain it from here," Remus said, quickly guiding the Potter twins out of the shop.

"It was lovely meeting you!" The wand maker called before the shop door closed with a ding.

"Remus, what do you know and why won't you tell us?" Astrid said, pulling her and her brother to a stop. Jackson still looked a little dazed, from performing magic for the first time, and finding out about their ancestry.

"I apologize, Astrid, Jackson. Professor Dumbledore wanted to be the one to explain everything to you, but-," Remus began.

"But he’s not here!. Apparently, everyone else seems to know about this but us. Bill Weasley almost told us on the way to our vault!" Astrid said, on the verge of shouting.

"Astrid, we will explain everything to you in due time. Al- Professor Dumbledore is planning to visit on Christmas Eve, and he will explain everything to you them," Remus said with a large sigh. 

"And what are we supposed to do until then? Lie to Harry, just not tell him after we found out we are his last living relatives? Y-"

"What? Astrid, what did you say?" She whirled around, seeing the rest of the Weasley's trailing behind Harry as he jogged up to her. His eyebrows were furrowed, and he was almost scowling. 

"Harry, wait a moment," Remus began again. "I-"

"Come on, you lot! We will go pick up their books!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, corralling her children (and Hermione) back down the alley. "We will see you later, Remus," Molly said, with a carefully even voice.

"Professor Lupin, what is going on?" Harry demanded.

"Harry, listen. Professor Dumbledore wanted to be the one who explained this all to you. He was planning a visit on Christmas Eve," Remus repeated, looking as if he had aged another ten years in the past ten minutes

"No, I wanna know now. Is what Astrid saying true?" Harry said, crossing his arms. 

"Yes. I don't know the whole story, but I will do my best to explain everything to you." Remus sighed and lead them down to the ice cream shop, where they sat down. Harry was scowling into the distance, looking a cross between upset and confused. Astrid and Jackson kept glancing between each other (although Astrid looked quite mad, still), wondering if they should say something. 

"Harry, Astrid and Jackson are your cousins," Remus began again. "Their father, William Potter, was your father's younger brother."

"Well, how come no one told me about him? I thought my dad was an only child," Harry spat, not convinced.

"Well, many people thought that. When Vol-Voldemort came into power, William was afraid. He escaped the country, fleeing to America, and traveled in Time," Remus explained. Astrid and Jackson glanced at each other again. _This adds up._

"Sounds like a coward," Harry grumbled. Astrid flicked him hard in the forehead. "Ow, Astrid!"

"That's our dad you're talking about. He died when we were young, too. Don't be an ass," Astrid muttered. Harry blinked back at them, surprised.

"Sorry."

"'S all right," Jackson said.

"Anyway, the Death Eaters still killed William, even after he moved. And when the Death Eaters attacked your house yesterday, the Time magic that was being used in your house sent you back."

"But we weren't using any time magic," Jackson pointed out, confused. 

"No, not actively, but you were born here, in 1980. The Time magic is still active if a witch or wizard is still in the wrong Time period," Remus said grimly.

"I'm still pissed off that I had family and no one told me," Harry muttered. 

"Well, we didn't know either," Remus said, patting his shoulder. "I'm sure Sirius would have been glad to hear there was another two James Potter relatives running around, too."

"Yeah, uh, also, we were missing the first four and a half years of our education, and the years I could have spent playing Quidditch, so," Jackson laughed, elbowing Harry. "I haven't gotten to fly yet, and Astrid said I can buy a broomstick." Harry perked up considerably. 

"I said _we_ can buy a broomstick," Astrid corrected. As sports-headed as Jackson was, she would not pass up an opportunity to fly.

"I'm glad we've come to an agreement. Come on, I bet the Weasley's have got your books squared away," Remus said, leading the Potters back to the bookshop.

-

The journey to Diagon Alley ended in the Quidditch shop, with Jackson carrying out a new Cleansweep.

"This is sick! Az, it goes zero to sixty, and it comes with self-regu-"

"Jack, I know, I was there," Astrid laughed. "Come on, the sooner you get home, the sooner you can try it out." And with that, the group found their way back through Diagon Alley, and back through the fireplace.

In Number Twelve, Jackson was quick to unwrap his broomstick, before Kingsley came through the front door. "Good news! I convinced the Ministry to let you two do underage magic. Hopefully, we can get you two caught up," he announced, shaking hands with the others in greeting.

"Sorry, Jack, maybe later," Astrid said, moving to put away his broomstick. Even so, the Potter Twins weren't very disappointed, they were still doing _magic._

"Can we duel first?" Jackson asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

" _No!"_ Remus said, exasperated. As the only one in the house who was a professor (Harry's club did _not_ count), he was going to teach the Potter Twins. Still, they had quite the audience. 

"Why not? We've read a _lot_ about the theory, trying to catch up. I stole some of Ron's books yesterday, he didn't notice!" Astrid complained. This was a lie, but the Potters knew far too much to be considered beginners.

"Hey! I was wondering where my spell books went!" Ron whined. 

"Oh, all right! We can't _duel_ , but we can do some practical exercises. The parlor should be big enough, and it's clean," Remus allowed.

"Sick!" Jackson, the moment they got there, and turned towards Astrid, " _Stupe-!"_

 _"Protego!"_ Astrid shouted, and Jackson flew over backwards from the rebound. " _Expelliarmus!"_ She caught her brothers wand neatly in her hand.

"I said no dueling!" Remus said, laughing. "I mean, you guys are impressive, but I don't want you getting hurt. I _thought_ we'd start smaller."

Astrid smiled at him, but watched her brother out of the corner of her eye. He was staying low, but not hiding very well. Wandless, he tried to sneak up on her.

" _Colloshoo!"_ Astrid said, jabbing her wand, barely looking at her target. ( _No fair!)_. "I can silence you, too, ya know," Astrid quipped at him. A small round of applause came from the kids in the doorway.

"All right, will you let me up, at least?" Jackson pouted on the floor. 

" _Finite,"_ Astrid said, and Jackson hopped to his feet. "This is fun, and I would love to jinx you all day, Jack, but Defense isn't the only thing we need to learn," Astrid reminded him.

"Easy for you to say. None of my spells hit you," Jackson whined. Remus laughed and went to sit down behind the desk by the window.

"All right, sit down. _Clearly_ , your defense spells are all right. These pillows seem rather safe for transfiguration and charms. Hermione, do you want to assist?" Hermione took a seat in the last remaining chair, and the Weasley's (plus Harry) sat on the floor or against the wall.

"Hermione, I'm fuzzy on exactly the spells they teach you. Do you think you can start with year one?" She nodded and explained the theory of the spell.

"The first one we learned was _Wingardium Leviosa,_ swish and flick," Hermione said. "I'd show it to you, but I'm sure you can do it. Ron even did it first year, too," she smirked.

"Hey! Everything is difficult when you're eleven!" Ron argued, but nodded along eagerly. After a few hours, the Twins were quite versed in simple charms and transfiguration. Astrid had even Vanished the paper plates that were used for lunch.

After a few tries, Sirius came up the stairs, and promptly made fun of the two for practicing Charms and Transfiguration. Remus shook his head at him, mocking a warning, but there was no time.

" _Rictusempra!"_

_"Tarantallegra!"_

Astrid and Jackson spoke at the same time, and Sirius was far too distracted with his teasing to expect anything.

"Ha ha! You guys aren't - ha - supposed to know - hee hee - those yet!" Sirius gasped, clutching his stomach while he danced uncontrollably. Remus let him suffer for a few more seconds before relenting.

" _Finite._ You know, the tickling charm was a fan-favorite of ours back in school. Not enough to hurt anyone, but thoroughly embarrassing," Rems said thoughtfully.

"That's not very nice, _Professor,_ " Hermione said, reminding Remus of the example was supposed to be. 

"Come on, we've heard all about the adventures the four of you went on, creating your map and stuff. It could have been worse," Jackson argued, excited to hear about any of his wizarding family. Before anyone else could chip in, Molly announced dinner.

"Hey, Mrs. Weasley?" Astrid asked as they sat down at the table. "Do you think Jackson and I could go back to Diagon Alley tomorrow? A lot of our stuff got lost at our house, and Christmas is in a few days..." She looked hopefully at Mrs. Weasley.

"In this age? Absolutely not!" Mrs. Weasley admonished. Astrid expected that answer.

"I can go with them, Molly. Alastor only packed up a suitcase for each of them, they won't survive six months with what they got this morning," Remus offered. Mrs. Weasley tapped her fingers on the table for a few moments.

"Ooh, can I come, too! I always forget to Christmas shop until the last minute," Tonks admitted sheepishly. 

"Oh, all right, as long as you're back by sunset!" Mrs. Weasley relented.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley! And Remus!." Astrid said politely. 

"I don't even think you'll need me, since you hexed the hell out of Padfoot earlier," Remus laughed over Sirius' protests ( _Don't speak of it!)._

Later that evening, after they were sent up to bed, Astrid unpacked her books for the homework planner she’d gotten earlier.

"Seriously? You never even used a homework planner in regular school why did you get one now?" Jackson joked. 

"It's not for homework! We can get a head start on stuff now, and I want to write everything I can remember before we forget," Astrid chided. There was so much to think about, she could barely keep her head on straight. The thing that came to mind first was the fight at the Ministry of Magic. 

The twins spent the rest of the night recording all that they could remember from the books. By midnight, the book was mostly filled with preventable deaths and horcrux details.

"We can't let _anyone_ see this book. Imagine the chaos that would go down if Mrs. Weasley saw that Fred would die in a year and a half," Astrid whispered. " _Colloportus."_ The hinge on the book snapped shut.

"Well, hopefully all of that won't happen. God, now I've met them, everything is so much sadder. Remus has been significantly better father figure than Rick ever was," Jackson muttered, sprawling on the bed.

"Well, that's not hard, Jack," she said, pulling the mattress out from under the box spring.

"Pfft. You're right. 'Night, Az."

"'Night.”


	3. Chapter 3 - Malfoy and Christmas Eve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning - Strong language and descriptive injury. Mention of character death

"Hey, Az, do we have to worry about any of this today? Az? Az, wake up," Jackson said, toeing at Astrid's knee. "Az d-"

"Jackson. We were up until two in the morning. Let me sleep," Astrid mumbled and rolled over on the mattress. She hadn’t slept well; she kept imagining someone was breaking into their room to attack them.

_ CRACK _

Astrid contained a scream and scooted from the mattress to under the writing desk.

"Get up, guys! Hey, where'd Astrid go?" Fred asked, noticing the empty bed. Jackson recovered from the scare and rolled his eyes. Not bothering to reply, he not-so-gently guided the Weasley Twins into the hallway.

"They didn't listen yesterday, did they?" Jackson muttered rhetorically. "Come on, they're gone. Astrid crawled out from under the desk. Mornings have never been the nicest to them.

"Apparently not. Well, I'm awake now, what were you gonna ask me?" Astrid said, stretching.

"Oh, I was asking if we had to worry about this, yet," he said, gesturing to the homework planner.

"No, what would we do, anyway? Besides, I wanna have at least one happy, magical Christmas.”

Breakfast went smoothly, with Astrid and Jackson pointedly ignoring the other twins. They rushed up the stairs to prepare to leave and the other students were coming down.

"Oh, Christmas shopping, and we lost a lot of stuff the other day, so we need to replace it. See you guys later!" Astrid said when Harry asked where they were going. She kept the planner in the inside pocket of her coat, to make sure no one found it while they were away.

"Thanks for coming with, Remus! I thought I would go crazy with only two pairs of socks since Az  _ Vanished mine!"  _ Jackson said pointedly. She laughed at him.

"You deserved it. And we really appreciate it, Remus, Tonks. I don't think Mrs. Weasley would've let us out of her sight otherwise." Astrid said.

Diagon Alley was as crowded as ever, especially with Christmas two days away. "Well, where would you two like to go first?" Remus asked as they passed Eeylops Owl Emporium.

"Um, let's go to Madame Malkin's first. Hopefully, we can hit a few birds with one stone," Astrid suggested. A brown owl squawked loudly at her choice of words.

"All right, sounds good." They found their way into the shop, and Remus and Tonks let the two teens wander. They got fit for dress robes, and both found comfortable pairs of sneakers. Astrid definitely wanted to avoid sprinting through the Ministry of Magic in her combat boots, no matter how bad ass that would be.

While Jackson was counting Galleons, Astrid browsed the less practical garments for purchase. She smiled at the thought of giving Ginny a Holyhead Harpies t-shirt. As she turned around to bother Jackson, she, quite literally, ran into someone. As her eyes refocused, she almost laughed out loud when she looked up at him.

Platinum blond hair, pointed nose, and expensive robes.  _ Must be Draco Malfoy.  _ Before she could say anything, he offered her a helping hand up.

"My apologies," he said formally. "I haven't seen you around here before, what is your name?"

"Oh, um, I'm Astrid, and that's my brother, Jackson," she said, getting her twin's attention, whose eyes widened at the new arrival.

"Yeah, we're new, staying with a family friend," Jackson lied with ease, shaking Malfoy's hand.

"Welcome. My name is Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

"Pleased to meet you, Draco," Astrid said, trying not to stare too much. 

"You, as well. Unfortunately, I must be going. Perhaps I will see you two at school," Malfoy said curtly. The twins waved at him until he wasn't looking and then looked at each other.

"What do we do? I mean, he's gonna become a Death Eater, but is there a way we can prevent that? But, he's a little shit that is mean and racist at every turn, but also, how much of that is influence from his parents? How do we stop him from almost killing Dumbledore, but not getting his parents killed?" Astrid whispered furiously to her brother, who nodded. “What if-!”

"Dude, I don't know. We should just be nice to him, probably? He probably just needs someone to treat him like a regular person, you know? He seemed nice, just then," Jackson considered.

"Okay, good plan. Just- Harry will be pissed if we're friends with him," Astrid said, tugging on the sleeve of her jacket nervously.

"We'll get there when we get there," Jackson said. "Deep breaths, Az." She complied, and they resumed their Christmas shopping, getting the Quidditch t-shirt for Ginny, and picking some Do-It-Yourself face piercings for Tonks.

"I may or may not be vicariously living the punk lifestyle through her, but I think she'd like them," Astrid mumbled to Jackson as they left the shop. Remus and Tonks agreed to make transactions at separate times. ‘ _ Don’t ruin the Christmas surprise!'  _ Tonks had said.

"All right, kids, where to next?" The Aurors followed the twins into the joke shop, Gambol and Japes, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour (which also sold sweets), Flourish and Blotts, and Quality Quidditch Supplies. There, they were almost definitely covered in terms of Christmas shopping.

They soon were tiredly following Remus and Tonks to the Floo powder station. 

“Wonderful! You made it home safely, and just in time for dinner!” Mrs. Weasley gushed, and hugged them the best she could around their packages. “Why don't you two settle in, wrap your presents upstairs. The other children are up there,  _ hopefully _ cleaning the fourth bedroom, if you wanted to see them."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," the Potters chorused, and dashed up the stairs. Once they finished wrapping their Christmas gifts, they joined the other students in tackling the fourth bedroom. 

"Oh, hello, Astrid, Jackson. Crookshanks discovered a Boggart and is cowering under the bed,” Hermione said, and turned back to the rattling cupboard. Jackson went to beckon the cat back out. “Fred and George don't wanna hurt it- I think for their experiments, but I can't do magic out of school. Care to do the honors, Astrid?"

Astrid pulled her wand out of her jacket pocket, not caring to look at the twins, who were whispering to each other. "Look, I won't kill it, if you contain it, guys," she said, and pointed her wand at the door. "But I'm not gonna wait for you. 

"Excellent! We wanted to trap it, but-" Fred began.

"Hermione, go for it," Astrid said shortly.

The Boggart all but fell out of the cabinet, taking the form of Jackson, glassy-eyed and bloody. Astrid expected this, and shouted, " _ Riddikulus!" _ The Boggart morphed again, and she gestured to the Weasley's to take over.

"Aw, Crookshanks, it's all right!" Astrid scratched his ears fondly when he finally crawled out from under the bed. "Where's Harry and Ron?"

"They'd gone to get Mrs. Weasley, since the only two  _ dolts _ who could do magic here weren't helping," Hermione grumbled, pointing to the twins, who were admiring their catch in a large jar. "I'll go find them before she comes up. I don't wanna see them get hexed right now." With that, Hermione left the room.

"Thanks, Astrid!" Fred said, peering through the glass. 

“Leave me out of this,” Astrid snarled, and turned on her heel to follow Hermione out. 

"Mrs. Weasley, the Boggart is gone now, you don't need to come up," Hermione explained to a red-faced Mrs. Weasley.

"But those boys did  _ not _ get rid of it!" Mrs. Weasley burst, shouting all the way up the stairs. Astrid tried to smile at Hermione, who shrugged in defeat. Astrid’s face was still flushed from dealing with Fred and George.

"Great job,by the way, Astrid. I hope you’re okay- that looked pretty serious,” Hermione said, smoothing down her cat’s fur. 

“Oh, yeah, it’s what I expected. I’ll be fine. Oh, Remus! Did you hear what happened?" Astrid asked, perking up considerably. Remus was stirring stew at the stove (by wand, of course). Hermione set Crookshanks down (Jackson was rather attached to the cat) went back upstairs to finish cleaning.

"What? Is everything okay?" He asked worriedly, looking over his shoulder. 

"Oh, yeah, no, we're cool, I  _ kicked Boggart ass _ , though," Astrid boasted. If Remus Lupin said she did well (after being the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher she'd read about), then she must have done well.

"Impressive! We never went over Dark creatures yesterday, I assume you had a spectacular coach," Remus said.

"Um, no, uh, I was up reading. So much catching up to do, you know," Astrid lied, embarrassed. Lying to Draco Malfoy was fine, but she was not a fan of lying to Remus. It gave her a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. 

"No coaching? Well, looks like you don't need me to teach you, anymore," Remus said happily, turning back to the stew.

Astrid sat down at the island next to Jackson, who was still petting Crookshanks protectively. "Um, Remus, did you know our dad while you went to Hogwarts?" She asked quietly. Jackson perked up a bit, but continued pampering the cat.

Remus turned his head. "I was wondering when you would ask that." He set the stew on a potholder on the table before going back to lean on the island across from the twins. "I don't know. Probably. Albus, Professor Dumbledore, figured- well, he told me that Will erased himself from everyone's memory. Not quite Obliviating us- it’s like…,   
Remus paused a moment to think. “Like making a place Unplottable," he said, absentmindedly pulling silverware out of the drawers.

"So, no one knows him, not really," Jackson mumbled, not looking up from Crookshanks.

"I don't know that. I would be quite impressed if he got to the mind of Albus Dumbledore, to tell you the truth," Remus admitted. The twins smiled at that, excited to meet the Headmaster the next day. "But, if I had to make a guess, I'd be confident to say he's proud of both of you." This earned a grin from both Astrid and Jackson. "Now! You two can set the table, and I'll go corral everyone else," Remus said, ruffling their hair on the way past. 

Fred and George were the first two to come down the stairs, and they quickly set to helping the Potter Twins set the table, earning themselves a few suspicious squints. Once that was done, they sat at one end of the table, whispering (presumably) about their joke shop.

Soon, the door opened, with the arrival of Mr. Weasley, accompanied by Kingsley. Fred and George instantly stood up, and soon the Weasley children were crowding their dad with hugs. 

"All right, all right, settle down!" Mr. Weasley said, sinking heavily into the seat at the head of the table. "And who might you two be? Have we adopted two more, Molly?" He joked, kissing her on the cheek.

"I'm Astrid, and this is my brother, Jackson," Astrid said politely, shaking Mr. Weasley's hand. Jackson moved to do the same. 

"I am Arthur Weasley. Welcome to the family." The Potter twins beamed at the invitation and sat down to eat.

Dinner was uneventful. Most of the time, Astrid and Jackson were trying to overhear the adults talking about the next Order meeting, but they were unsuccessful. The highlight was when Tonks dropped her ceramic plate, and Jackson fixed it with a flawless  _ Reparo! _

"All right, you lot, up to bed! We have lots of cleaning up to do tomorrow since everyone is coming for a Christmas Eve dinner!" Mrs. Weasley announced and shooed the children up the stairs.

Harry passed the twins' room as he was on his way to brush his teeth and knocked. "Hey, heard you 'kicked Boggart ass' today, Astrid," he said, saluting. "Sorry I didn't get to see it." Harry was already on his way down the hall when Astrid replied.

"Better luck next time, Potter!" She shouted with grin.

"Man, I wish I could've gotten the Boggart," Jackson complained. 

"Not that great, Jack. I mean, it was a great learning experience, but I was not at all prepared enough for it," Astrid mumbled. 

"I heard what it was. I suppose I wouldn't have taken it well, either," he said, flopping onto the floor mattress.

Astrid awoke to a quiet knocking on the door. ' _ Well, at least the twins listened this time', _ she thought bitterly, wondering who they sent up.

"Good morning, Sunshine," George Weasley said when she opened the door. Astrid raised her eyebrows at him. Fred stood behind him, waving with a sheepish smile.

"What a surprise?" she said, opening the door so they could bother her brother. This time, she was not lying.

"Come on, sleepyhead, it's time to rise and shine!" Fred said, putting a hand on Jackson's shoulder. When he opened his eyes, he looked in disbelief from Fred, to George, and back again. He sat up, rubbing his eyes again.

"Am I dreaming?"

"It appears not. Sorry I was kind of bitchy with yesterday," Astrid admitted, sitting back down on the bed. Jackson nodded agreeably.

"No, we're sorry for not catching the obvious hints," Fred said, smiling softly at her. "Are we cool?"

"We’re definitely cool. Did your mom steal your Boggart?" Astrid asked.

"Nope! Lupin rescued us!" George announced excitedly. "Speaking of, your meal awaits," he said, holding open the door for the Potter Twins, who were still glancing between Fred and George skeptically.

Breakfasts passed quickly, with only two threats of bat-bogey hexes from Ginny. They spent the rest of the day cleaning, decorating, and preparing for the Christmas Eve dinner- Mrs. Weasley was in her element.

"What do you think Dumbledore will tell us?" Jackson asked Astrid, as they dusted what they assumed were Dark artifacts in a glass case.

"No idea, Jack. Remus told us everything I could imagine there is to say," Astrid said. She was very careful to not touch anything, especially the box that was filled with Merlin knows what. Jackson was far more reckless, and knocked the box onto his shoes, which quickly started smoking.

"Fuck! Ow,  _ fuck _ , I fucked up!" Jackson cursed loudly.  _ "Aguamenti!" _ The spray of water only made it worse, for some reason. Astrid ran to the door and began shouting.

"Help! In the drawing room!" She heard thundering footsteps, and Remus came bursting in from down the hall.

"What happened?" He asked, determined. 

"There was a box he dropped on his feet, and he tried to fix it with water, but it got worse, and-" Astrid stopped when she looked back at her brother. His converse were practically burned away, and there were red blisters crawling up his shins. The air started to smell like lit cigarettes and something chemically. Astrid covered her face.

Remus knelt in front of him, muttered some kind of healing spell, and the smoking faded away. Jackson, who had fallen backwards onto the wooden floor, was still shaking. "Are you okay?" Remus asked, putting two hands on Jackson's shoulders. He nodded, still looking unsure. "Come on, let's go downstairs. I'm sure Molly has something that will help you with the pain." He hoisted Jackson to his feet with an arm around his back, and Astrid followed nervously behind them.

Soon enough, Jackson was sitting on the island, with the legs of his jeans rolled up. "Oh, dear, I was afraid this would happen. Hold on, let's look," Mrs. Weasley fussed. She began pulling out different books looking for a specific passage. Remus leaned against the counter, wearing a look Astrid didn’t recognize. 

"Ah ha! Here it is!" Mrs. Weasley gathered ingredients from around the kitchen and applied some sort of potion with her wand to the blisters. "There you go, dear. Oh, don't worry, Fred and George do far worse all the time," she reassured Jackson, and patted him on the cheek. "Why don't you all take a break, hm?" She said, packing up what was left of the potion and going to check on the others.

"Now you're alright,  _ what the hell happened?"  _ Remus demanded, arms crossed.

"Well, um, we were dusting the glass case in the drawing room, and I knocked a box off the shelf," Jackson mumbled, looking his feet, which were now covered in a blue paste.

"You guys need to be more careful! There are some very dangerous things lying about in here; the Black Family was full of Death Eaters!" Remus chastised loudly. Of course, the twins knew this.

"We're sorry, Mr. Lupin, we'll be more careful next time," Astrid said gloomily. She frowned, not used to the lump that was rising in her throat. Jackson’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. 

"No, it's not your fault...," Remus said, running a hand over his face. "You guys just scared the shit out of me. We should have warned you more closely, and at least been close by," he admitted, putting two hands on Jackson's shoulders again. The boy was smiling again.

"How come Mrs. Weasley doesn't scold you when you swear?"

"Because I am far more sneaky. She was prefect, you know, when I was first going to school," Remus said with a small grin.

"Oh! That makes sense. She is very stern..." Astrid said, looking up the stairs for fear she would come down and scold her for it, and Jackson hopped off of the counter

"Yes, she is. Are you sure you two are one hundred percent okay?" Remus asked for the third time. After two agreeing nods and smiles, he gave them both a bone-crushing hug.

-

Soon enough, the guests arrived, and Grimmauld Place was filled with jolly greetings and Christmas carols. Many of the guests greeting Mr. Weasley with exaggerated gusto, which he appreciated. The Potter Twins did their best to stay out of everyone's way, feeling a bit like strangers.

"What are you two doing back here?" Sirius asked jestingly. "The party is out there." The two were taking good care to brush out Crookshanks fur at this moment, avoiding the crowds.

"Being good pet owners, you see, Sirius," Jackson remarked with a smile.

"That’s not your cat. Well, I'm sure this is quite invigorating, but I heard Professor Albus Dumbledore has arrived," Sirius said knowingly. The twins jumped up, to the surprise of the cat, and bounded out of the room, calling  _ thanks, Sirius!  _ as they rushed past.

They almost skidded to a halt at the end of the hallway, scanning the crowd unfamiliar faces.

"There," Astrid gestured to the aged man in the sparkling green robes. They walked  _ calmly _ and  _ politely  _ (Astrid could tell Jackson wanted to sprint) towards the Headmaster who greeted them with a warm smile. 

"Ah, Miss Potter, Mister Potter. I have been looking forward to meeting your for quite some time," he said, summoning two plush armchairs for them. "Now, I bet you are wondering why you are here."

"Well, not quite. Mr. Lupin explained a lot to us after Ollivander spilled that Harry is our cousin," Astrid admitted.

"Mr. Lupin was held at wand-point by Harry, so don't blame him," Jackson added quickly.

"As I have heard," Professor Dumbledore said, smiling. "But, there is another reason you are here. You two know the story, from the beginning, to the end."

The twins blinked at each other. They weren't sure if they wanted to admit this aloud or not.

"As you both know, this is your  _ true  _ time, where you are meant to be. But Time makes no mistakes. When your father traveled to the future, it put you in a time where you could learn the story, and then, it brought you back here. There is much you can do with your knowledge, and many lives to be saved." Astrid and Jackson nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted. 

"Ah, it appears that dinner is starting, and I would hate for us to be late. We will continue this conversation at Hogwarts." The headmaster stood up and walked away.

As if Professor Dumbledore had sensed it, Mrs. Weasley called everyone to the table. Jackson had started a conversation with the Weasley twins about the open positions on the Quidditch team, and Astrid turned to Ginny. "Ginny, when we get back to school, would you mind teaching me that bat-bogey hex you're so good at?" She asked loudly, eying Sirius' creeping hand out of the corner of her eye. Without warning, Astrid stabbed her fork into the table between his hand and her dinner roll, quirking an eyebrow at him. 

"Care to explain?"

"Sharing is caring, Asteroid. You have the last roll," Sirius said with a not-so-innocent smile.

"I would love to teach you, Astrid," Ginny giggled, playing along.

"Next time, I'll jinx your socks off, Black," she said, yanking her fork out of the table with a grin.

"She will, Sirius! My socks were  _ fucking gone," _ Jackson exclaimed, earning another scold from Mrs. Weasley, and a laugh from Remus, Sirius, and Tonks.

The rest of the dinner went smoothly even though Snape would send glares at the various Potters around the table every few minutes. Thanks to Tonks (and once, Jackson himself), the Potter Twins could practice their repairing charms a few more times. 

The night ended with Alastor Moody checking the street several times, and bidding them goodnight. Afterwards, Mrs. Weasley sent them all up to bed, promising gifts to all in the morning.


	4. Chapter 4 - Hogwarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very light mentions of homophobia and racism. Mild mention of illness, injury, and character death. Also sorry it got political but like it's a book series where the main villain is magic-Hitler I don't know what you were expecting lol

This time, when the Weasley Twins came up to wake up Astrid and Jackson, they were already awake.

"Merry Christmas!" Fred and George chanted at them, both grabbing an armful of wrapped presents to help carry downstairs.

The Christmas tree had an _alarming_ amount of boxes underneath it, which Crookshanks was sniffing suspiciously. The dining room table was almost collapsing under the numerous plates of pancakes, bacon, and eggs. The Weasleys were already sporting matching sweaters.

"No, guys!" Ron whined. "Now she's never going to stop talking about it! We'd finally iced her out so she'd stop bothering everyone." Jackson and Astrid blinked at each other before turning their attention to Ron.

"True friendship- ignoring your friend just because you disagree with her,” Astrid said sarcastically, trying her best not to sound passive aggressive, but failing. “Sure, House Elves _love_ being enslaved. I’m sure twenty years from now, Mudbloods and half-giants will, too.”

“Astrid!” Mrs. Weasley scolded, her face flaring red. 

Ron and Harry stood up, knocking their chairs back, and Ginny choked on her hashbrowns.

“That’s what you sound like, Ron!” Astrid went off again. Jackson squinted at her, but didn’t say anything. “You’re quick to defend Hermione and Hagrid, but you turn it around when it’s Elves! You can’t pick and choose what intelligent creatures deserve freedom! Isn’t that what we’re all fighting about?”

Harry sat back down, staring at Astrid as if she had just sprouted a second head.

“ _God_ , imagine coming from the Muggles- where everyone is treated like _garbage_ for no reason, and they you come here and everything is the _exact same_.” 

Jackson stared at Astrid for a few moments, as if he was waiting for her to go off again. “Are you done?”

“I think so,” she said, still staring at Ron.

Mrs. Weasley turned back, pointedly ignored their argument, talking loudly with Tonks at the end of the table. Ron reluctantly sat down, while Ginny started eating again and the Weasley Twins were still staring.

"I never thought about it that way," Harry said after a few tense seconds of silence. 

"Outside perspective, my friend," Astrid said, visibly relaxing. "Pass the butter?"

Hermione came back down, oblivious to the argument and passing out her buttons and pamphlets to all who would take them, which was a few more than yesterday. Remus read his cover to cover as he ate his breakfast.

"Come on, present time!" Mrs. Weasley announced, herding the small crowd into the living room. "All right, Fred, George, pass out some gifts." The Weasley Twins (from their spot on the floor) pulled out their wands. "NO! No, that's all right, actually," Mrs. Weasley cried, standing up to distribute the presents herself.

Once everyone began opening their presents, the room was filled with chatter and lose wrapping paper. "Guys, what is this?" Hermione asked, unwrapping a large textbook.

"Oh, when Moody packed up our things, he left that in my backpack. I hope you find it interesting," Astrid said. "I didn't really have an interest in learning Trigonometry anymore.”

"I've been saying for _months_ that there needs to be an academic math class at Hogwarts!" Hermione said, flipping through the pages. "Thank you!"

"Guys, please do _not_ tell me you gave Harry a practice Snitch?" Remus asked, watching Harry as it flew around his head.

"Yeah, why?"

"James carried one of those around for _years_. I'm pretty sure Sirius is going to have a heart attack," Remus laughed, as Sirius watched his godson fondly. "Oh, these are for you guys." He handed two wrapped gifts to them.

Jackson and Astrid tore open the paper to see blank notebooks. "Thank you, Remus! I'll never get used to writing everything on lose parchment all the time," Astrid said, turning the book over in her hands.

"This isn't a regular journal. See, whatever you write in, will appear in this one," Remus said, holding up one of another color.

"Like group texting- OW!" Jackson said, as Astrid kicked him in the knee.

" _Group texting doesn't exist, you idiot,"_ Astrid whispered. "This reminds me of Tom Riddle's diary, the one Harry stabbed."

"Well, no one's soul is preserved in these, this is just a safe way of communicating," Remus explained. "Also, how do you know about that? That was years ago," he muttered.

"Uh, he was catching us up, when we were talking about the Order," Astrid said quickly.

"Thank you, Mr. Lupin. Now I can tattle on Astrid next time she _breaks my kneecaps,"_ Jackson hissed. “Does she see what I write?

"Nope, just this one,” he said, tapping the cover of his book. “And you're very welcome. Now, I think there is some chocolate with my name on it," Remus said with a laugh, opening the packaging of his sweets.

Jackson and Astrid, after all the gift opening, spent at least twenty minutes practicing their Vanishing charms on all the wrapping paper. This went well, until Astrid accidentally Vanished the coffee table, and sent everyone's drinks onto the carpet. 

"Well, Vanishing something so big isn't easy, but we'll work on your accuracy," Sirius laughed.

The rest of Christmas passed as normal as it could, with Fred and George's replenished prank collection. Feeling full and content after dinner, Mrs. Weasley sent everyone up to bed with no complaints.

-

The day before they left for Hogwarts saw Astrid and Jackson packing and repacking their trunks.

"So, what happens at Hogwarts after the break ends?" Astrid asked for the fourth time, just to be sure. Before she got an answer, Harry burst into their room.

"Uh, 'sup, Harry?" Jackson asked, eyebrows furrowed. 

"Oh, hi, yes," Harry said distractedly, pacing back and forth.

"Not that it's not nice to see you, but what brought you here?" Astrid asked.

"Snape is giving me Occlumensey lessons when we get back to school," Harry said, continuing his pacing. 

"Oh, Occlumency, right. Harry, I really think you should try, at least," Astrid said, and hesitated before putting a hand on Harry's shoulder.

"How do you know what it _is,_ anyway? I'd never heard about it until ten minutes ago."

"A book in the parlor mentioned it, but that _sucks_ to have extra lessons with Snape, dude," Jackson said.

"That's not all of it! He said it was Dumbledore's idea, and he won't even talk to me! And then Sirius _threatened_ him, which was unhelpful, no matter how much I want to see Snape get punched," Harry rambled. "And I would rather keep the nightmares than have to see Snape anymore than I have to!"

"Harry, I hate Snape as much as the next person. I mean we just met him and all he did was glare at us!" Astrid complained. "But, do you think it's a good idea for Voldemort to get into your head?"

"Fine, I'll try it. But if he's unfair, I'm quitting."

"Hey, where's Ron and Hermione? Not that I didn't wanna talk, don't you usually go to them first?" Jackson asked, counting the books in his trunk. 

"They've been acting weird lately. Fighting or giving each other looks all the time," Harry muttered.

"Ah, third wheeling. That sucks, Harry. You can always kick it with us," Astrid said.

"Oh, and _I_ sound like I'm not from 1995!" Jackson complained, punching Astrid's shoulder lightly.

"All right, then, what are you guys up to?" Harry asked. Astrid raised her eyebrows in surprise. She didn't actually _expect_ him to hang out with them, not that it was a bad thing.

"Hermione wanted us to make a study plan, since we're so behind," Jackson lied, putting the homework planner in the bottom of his trunk. "That's getting boring, though. Can you teach me how to play Wizard's Chess?"

Harry led them back down to the living room, where Jackson unpacked the set they'd gotten for Christmas from Ron. Astrid watched absentmindedly, flipping through the journal that Remus had given her. She pulled out a pen from her backpack by the fireplace and doodled on the corner of the first page.

"Okay, no fair! Go easy on me, I've never played before," Jackson complained.

"Jackson, you've played chess, just accept defeat," Astrid said. Harry laughed at this.

"Well, it's the same game, but with the satisfaction of destroying things," he explained, watching his knight crush Jackson's pawn.

"I can see why Ron likes this game," Jackson said. "Even though I'm losing, I always enjoy a good smashing."

Remus walked down the stairs, whispering to Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen. There were several other members of the Order in the house, but the Potter Twins had long since given up on trying to listen in. Afterwards, he came into the living room, sitting next to Astrid on the couch.

"Is this supposed to be a come? I don't get it," he said, smiling at his own journal at the drawing.

"It's an asteroid _obviously_. I don't know if I'll be able to write to you if you can't decipher the coding," Astrid said with a laugh.

"Well, my name doesn't have a cool code that isn't extremely obvious," he said.

"Are you kidding? Your code name is Wolf Wolf, of course. Well, okay, that's pretty obvious, and also, it sucks," Astrid conceded.

"Speaking of which, I liked your speech at breakfast the other day, even though it was a bit… passionate. You guys showed up a week ago and already have a better understanding of the wizarding world than the rest of us do," Remus said, taking a more serious tone.

"Uh, thanks," Astrid said nervously. Jackson glanced up at her for a moment before focusing on his game. "Back home, there were a lot of school bullies who weren't a fan of anything other than the normal. Well, _their_ normal. They didn't take too kindly to half-Indian bisexuals," she said with a nervous laugh.

Jackson looked up again, ignoring the game altogether. "I didn't know we were doing this now, Az," he said, glancing nervously between Remus and Harry, who was staring absently at the board.

"Well, it'd be pretty hypocritical of me to give you crap for anything anyway, Astrid, for multiple reasons," Remus said with a small smile. Astrid and Jackson visibly relaxed in their seats before Harry spoke up.

"I feel like I missed something. Can we go back?"

"To what?"

"To you being, uh, um..." Harry trailed off nervously. Astrid smiled knowingly at him.

"Bisexual? It means liking both girls and guys, Harry. I don't have a preference, romantically," she said, crossing her legs on the couch (she would kick up her feet, but there was no coffee table).

"That's an _option?"_

"Indeed, it is, Harry! And we thought we'd be the ones to give you the talk!" Fred said, hopping over the back of the other couch.

"Fred, this isn't _the_ talk, it's just _a_ talk! Don't make it all weird, please," Astrid said with a laugh.

"Well, we have a club, you know, it meets in the Room of Requirement on Sunday at six," George announced. "The Lord's day!"

"What kind of club?" Jackson asked, turning around in his chair to look at the twins properly.

"A gay one."

" _No,_ Harry, he doesn't mean it like that," Astrid said, laughing at the horrified expression on Harry's face. "He just means a group of friends who hang out. Like a support group."

"Okay, if you want to put it that way, it sounds boring!" George complained.

"Well, I hear dinner is being made, I am off," Remus said with a laugh, tousling Astrid's hair as he stood up to leave.

"You can come," Fred muttered. "But don't tell anyone. Mum doesn't know about it, and we prefer to keep it that way."

"But I'm not, I don't-" Harry started.

"You don't have to know anything, yet, Harry. And it's probably pretty silly, if Fred and George run it," Jackson said, giving the Weasley Twins a look.

"I'll think about it," Harry stammered.

"Excellent! Well, if Lupin was right about dinner, we have places to be," George said, hopping up from the couch.

"Godspeed, Harry," Fred said solemnly, and they disappeared around the corner.

"We're still cool, Harry?" Astrid asked, unsure.

"Yeah. Just lots of new information," Harry said nervously. “New options”

"Well, don’t go shouting from the rooftops about me," Astrid said. “Some people don’t like this kind of stuff.”

“I won’t,” Harry reassured with a sheepish smile. 

Astrid nodded, grinning, and looked down at her journal, seeing new writing on the first page.

 _'How'd it go?'_ Astrid assumed that Remus had written when he had left the room.

_'Pretty well, I'd say. Probably a lot more questions, but he seems good._

A poorly drawn smiley face was drawn underneath, followed by two cartoon wolves. Astrid shook her head with a laugh.

-

"Are you sure you have everything you need?" Mrs. Weasley asked for the third time. All the students had swept their rooms clean, checking for misplaced belongings. While Jackson and Astrid were bouncing on their feet to go to Hogwarts, Harry seemed disappointed as ever.

Sirius thrust a small package into Harry's hands, talking quietly to him. Astrid and Jackson gave each other a look, only hoping that the gift would be enough to stop Harry from going to the Ministry a few months later.

They stepped out of Number Twelve, bundled up in their winter cloaks. Tonks was waiting for them, heavily disguised as a middle-aged woman in a pantsuit.

"What do ya think, guys?" She asked, twirling for her audience. Remus shut the door behind him and did a second headcount. "All right, lads, the sooner we get out of this cold, the better,” she said.

Tonks flung out her wand arm and -

_BANG_

A large, violet, triple-decker bus appeared in the street, knocking over a few rolling waste bins. The doors squeaked open, and a lanky, acne-ridden college kid stepped off.

"Welcome to the -"

"It's cold, Stan, move it!" Tonks said with an air of authority. "Come on, kids, _no_ , we'll get the trunks, hurry up!"

The bus driver's eyes widened at the sight of Harry. "Look, it's 'Arry-!" He started, before Tonks brandished her wand at him.

"Shush!"

Astrid and Jackson climbed on board. They'd forgotten all about Harry's fame while they were hidden in Grimmauld Place. What would the other students have to say about Harry's newfound cousins?

The Knight Bus was surprisingly empty, but there were a few patrons sitting in the front of the bus. Once they had sat down, Astrid and Jackson eagerly looked out the window.

"Oof, that's a mistake," Astrid mumbled, swaying in her seat as the Bus jolted into movement. She squeezed her eyes shut as tight as possible. "I prefer flying," she said. She opened her eyes when someone's bag had tipped over her feet. A dozen frogs leaped over her boots and down the length of the bus.

The Knight Bus screeched to a halt several times, and Astrid opened her eyes every time, preparing to get off the bus, only to screw them shut again when they took off. "Someone just _tell me_ when we get there," she mumbled clutching her stomach.

"All right, come on, Asteroid," Remus said, helping her up when they reached King's Cross. She was looking a little green. Once they were off the Bus (which had taken off with another _BANG),_ Astrid and Jackson took in their surroundings, whispering excitedly to one another.

"Okay, you two, if you need, just take it at a run," Tonks said, gesturing to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. She leaned against the brick and quickly vanished.

"Oh, my god," Astrid mumbled to Jackson, pushing her cart nervously in front of her. One right after another, they ran at the solid-looking wall. "It worked. It actually worked," she said.

"Come on, you can hex me to death and _walking through the barrier_ is the most unbelievable?" Jackson quipped, knocking their elbows together. The rest of their group passed through the barrier with ease and said their goodbyes.

"Thanks again for the gifts, you guys. Totally adds to my rep," Tonks said to Astrid and Jackson with a wink.

"No problem, Tonks. It was nice meeting you," Astrid said, hugging her goodbye.

"Hey, you two, come here for a minute," Remus said, pulling the twins aside. "Be careful, okay? And don't write anything too obvious even though it should be safe. Oh, and don't go wandering around at night, it's far too dangerous, _please,"_ Remus stressed. Jackson and Astrid gave him a knowing smile.

"If I can remember correctly, you were not abiding by these rules, Moony," Jackson quipped.

"Well, it was a different time then. I just... worry," Remus said, glancing between the two. "Don't do anything _too_ brash, then. And don't hesitate to write."

"That's fair," Astrid said, before Jackson could complain.

"I'll miss you two," Remus said, giving them both fatherly hugs.

"We will, too," Jackson mumbled.

And with that, the students loaded their trunks onto the Hogwarts Express. Once they'd settled into a carriage, they turned out the window to wave, until the two smiling faces faded from view. 

"Well, what House do you think you'll be in?" Fred asked Jackson and Astrid, slouching in his seat.

"Well, before, we were both pretty Hufflepuff," Jackson said, staring out the window. "But now, probably Gryffindor."

"I mean, now we know you lot, and we want to help the Order, Gryffindor is probably best," Astrid mentioned. "I mean, I hit Alastor Moody with a part of our coffee table when we first met him."

"Oh, yeah, that's Gryffindor. There's no other brave than one who's attacked Mad-Eye Moody!" George joked.

"Or stupid. So, yeah, Gryffindor," Astrid scoffed, earning a few laughs. "It's true! I mean, you lot, other than Hermione, do reckless things all the time!"

"I hear Lee calling our name. Lots to plan ya know," Fred said with a glint in his eye. He and his twin left the carriage. Ginny had already left to find her friends (and probably her boyfriend at the time).

"Harry," Astrid started nervously. "We want to join the D.A."

"Sure, don't see why not," Harry said. "Although, I don't think it ever came up over Christmas break," he mumbled, watching his practice Snitch flit around the compartment. The sliding door slid open with a bang.

"Well, look who it is, where's your fan club, _Potter?"_ Draco said with a sneer.

"Buzz off, Malfoy," Harry grumbled in response.

"Hi, Draco," Astrid said with a small wave and raised eyebrows.

"Oh, um, hi, Astrid, Jackson," Draco said, cheeks going pink

"Sup? How was Christmas?" Jackson asked, glancing at his sister nervously.

"Oh, uh, it was," Draco coughed awkwardly. "It was fine. I must go," he said, turning and leaving abruptly, but not before sending an award-winning glare to Harry

" _What the hell, guys,"_ Harry hissed, glancing fervently between his cousins. "'Sup, how's Christmas?' His dad is a Death Eater!" He almost shouted.

"Look, we ran into him in Diagon Alley, and he was actually nice to us! He _is_ a person, you know," Jackson said.

"He's on Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, you can't be all chummy with him! He is the _enemy!"_

"Jesus Christ, he's fifteen! And we weren't _chummy_ , we said _hi!_ Maybe if we're friends with him - _oh, don't give me that look_ \- he won't try to rat you out so much," Astrid explained.

"Fine, but I won't be happy about it," Harry grumbled, slouching in his seat. "Of all the people you met, it _had it be him."_

The rest of the train ride went much smoother, even as Harry recounted the story to Ron and Hermione when they got back from the Prefects carriage. Jackson and Astrid spent a fair amount of time nervously glancing out the window, hoping for their first glance of the Hogwarts castle.

They didn't see it, even after the train had stopped at Hogsmeade Station. "Come on, you guys, the carriages are this way," Hermione said authoritatively.

In front of the carriages were sleek, skeletal black horses with thin, bat-like wings.

"I didn't think we'd be able to see them," Astrid whispered, stroking the snout of the one closest to her. For a moment, Harry just blinked at her.

"You guys can see the Thestrals, too?" He asked.

"Well, obviously, Harry," Jackson said, patting the side of one of the creatures. "Our parents didn't survive the Death Eater attack, remember?" He said, eyes full of mirth.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Harry mumbled.

"It's chill, mate," Jackson said, climbing into the carriage. "Come on, we'll be late," he reminded them. The Potter Twins watched as Draco passed them, not giving them a second glance.

"Well, are you gonna try out for the Quidditch team Astrid?" Ginny asked, climbing in just before the Thestrals started up the hill.

"I wish," Astrid said with a laugh. "I have so much to catch up on as it is," she admitted.

"All right, I suppose. Maybe next year?"

"Maybe. And I am rooting for you, Ginny. I have a good feeling."

The carriage ride was much shorter than the train, but the tips of their noses were still red from the cold. When they arrived, the castle was all but looming over them, and Jackson and Astrid were stunned into silence.

"Yes, we know, it's majestic, but it's five degrees out!" Ron shouted, shunting them into the castle.

"This is... exactly what I imagined, but better," Jackson whispered as they walked into the Great Hall. Astrid rolled her eyes, but was still staring at the enchanted ceiling, enormous fireplaces, and towering stained-glass windows. They stood for a moment before sitting down at the Gryffindor table with their cousin.

"Are you sure about this? I mean we aren't even Sorted, yet, what if we get into-," Astrid worried.

"Well, they can't take points can they?" Jackson asked, silencing his sister. The listened to the eager chatter of those around them, who noticed the Sorting Hat sitting in the hall's front. The moment Professor Dumbledore stood, however, they were silenced.

"Welcome back!" He said, opening his arms wide in greeting. "As you all can see, the Sorting Hat has been brought out once again. Please give a warm welcome to our two new students, Astrid and Jackson Potter," Professor Dumbledore announced, gesturing for the two to stand up. There was a small uproar among the students.

"All right!" The chatter quickly stopped again. "Astrid, please, take a seat."

Almost shaking with excitement, Astrid sat as the Sorting Hat was placed over her eyes. _'Well, another Potter, eh?’_ Astrid jumped, forgetting about the Sorting Hat's voice. ‘ _Wasn't expecting you two for another twenty years! Yes, yes, you're not the first one who's from another era. I see, yes, in your past life, standing up for those around you, very Hufflepuff. How_ loyal _, yes. Oh, but the Boggart, as well, I see. Oh, all right, well, no one who isn't in Gryffindor has hit Mad-Eye Moody with a club. Better be-'_

"GRYFFINDOR!" The table in question erupted into applause. Astrid glanced at the far left table, catching Draco's eye, but he was frowning, looking back down to his plate. She shook her head and sat next to Harry, who gave her a high five.

Jackson sat down eagerly on the stool and grinned. The Sorting Hat only took a few moments, before shouting _GRYFFINDOR,_ once again.

"That was fast, Jack," Astrid said, nudging his foot under the table as he sat down.

"All I did was ask it to put me here, it was pretty easy," Jackson said, staring hopefully at the empty plate in front of him. "When can we eat? I'm starving!" As if the House Elves heard him, the plates filled with food.

"Astrid, look," Ginny whispered, pointing up at the teacher's table. "Snape is glaring again."

Sure enough, when Astrid glanced up, he was, quickly glancing away. "Ah, I figured. Just being a Potter does that, probably" she explained nonchalantly, turning back to the feast. "I'm not too worried."

When the feast was over, Jackson left the Great Hall with Fred and George, talking a mile a minute about Quidditch tryouts. Astrid noticed Draco was hanging back from his friends, and glancing over to the Gryffindor table nervously.

"I'll catch up with you," Astrid said to Ginny, who shrugged.

In the Entrance Hall, Draco walked formally up to Astrid. "So...," he started.

"If it's anything to you, I don't really care you're in Slytherin. Kinda seems counterproductive to our cause, if you ask me," Astrid said with a small smile.

"Your... cause?"

"You know, judging people because of their family, not because of the person themselves. Pureblood versus Muggleborns, all that. It'd be silly to not be your friend because of your House," she explained.

"Wish you'd tell Potter that," Draco said with a scoff.

"It's not like you've been an angel to him, either, dude. That’s not just because you're a Slytherin."

"Well, what did he say after I left, back on the train?"

"Oh, God, it was a mess. He was _very_ upset, and brought up your dad, blah blah blah. Oh, he said you're the _enemy,"_ Astrid said with an eye roll.

"Ah," Draco said with an airy laugh. "He's not wrong, though."

"Well, it's your choice. Anyway, it's getting late, and he's gonna kill me for this if he finds out."

"See you tomorrow?" Draco asked hopefully.

"Probably. Goodnight, Draco," Astrid said, turning up the stairs. _Oops._ She had no way of knowing which way to the Gryffindor common room, but started up a staircase anyway, before running into... something.

"Talking to _the enemy_ again, are we?" Harry asked, taking off his Invisibility Cloak. Astrid rolled her eyes at him.

"You were _stalking me?_ Harry, he's a person! Am I not allowed to talk to a friend after dinner?" Astrid complained, turning away from Harry, who stopped her again.

"Not when your friend is _Draco Malfoy!_ At least don't go talking to him alone at night!"

"I don't need a chaperone! He is not gonna kill me, and, also, it's none of your damn business!" She shouted. "Now! I don't know how to get to the common room, and you're going to _shut up_ and lead the way!"

"But-!"

"Harry, move it!"

"His dad-"

" _Silencio!"_ Astrid yelled, pointing her wand at Harry. He gaped like a fish out of water for a moment before glaring at her. "Much better," she said with a sarcastic smile. "Lead the way, dear cousin!"

The walk to the common room was _pleasantly_ quiet until they got to the Fat Lady's portrait. "Password?"

"Oh, um, I don't know," Astrid mumbled, turning to Harry. "What is it?" He glared at her pointedly and pointing at his throat. "Oh, uh, I don't..."

Harry gestured furiously at her, mouth opening in closing with silent words. "Oh, shut up! Let me think... Oh! _Sonorus!"_ Harry started talking again mid sentence.

"-can't believe you were so irresp-! Thank Merlin! The password is _Mimbulus Mimbletonia._ Astrid, we are not done talking about this!" He shouted as she climbed through the portrait hole without him.

"Well, I am! And stop shouting, everyone can hear you," Astrid said, flopping onto the couch next to her Hermione.

"What's going on?" She asked, seeing the two bickering.

"Harry is trying to police my friendship!" Astrid complained loudly.

" _No_ , I don't care who you're friends with, just not _Draco Malfoy!"_ Harry sneered. 

"Oh, that's what this is about," Jackson said from an armchair by the fireplace. "I mean, what's Draco gonna do, curse her?" He suggested jokingly.

" _Yes!"_

"Okay, Harry, here's the deal. No, shut it!" Astrid said, brandishing her wand again. "I'll do it again! And you can sit there like an idiot while I talk either way!" Harry closed his mouth again, slouching in his seat.

"Draco is a shitty person who has grown up being taught shitty ideals from his shitty parents, okay? _Maybe,_ if someone is nice to him, and teaches him not to be _shitty_ all the time, he won't be so bad!" Astrid said, exasperated.

"Well, I don't see why it has to be you guys. I just don't want you getting hurt...," Harry mumbled. 

"Draco is harmless. _Oh, don't give me that look, Ron._ Sure, he can take house points, but I don't think he's going to. Besides, if we won't talk to him, it's not any of you are doing a great job," Astrid said, and everyone but Hermione avoided her gaze.

"I don't think it's a bad idea. I mean, you guys don't have that kind of history, and, since you're half-bloods, maybe you can get through to him," Hermione said thoughtfully. "It's worth a shot."

"Thank you, Hermione. Now if it's okay with you, _Harry_ , I am exhausted. I wanna be awake for when I find out how many years up catch up work we get tomorrow," Astrid said, playfully shoving Harry.

"Sorry, Astrid. I guess I got carried away," he muttered.

"It's cool. I should have expected it, to be honest."

The girls' dormitory had several four-poster beds with red curtains, and smelled like fresh laundry. Astrid changed into her pajamas, got into bed, and fell asleep instantly.


	5. Chapter 5 - Time's Gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Mentions of violence and description of illness. Swearing as always

"Astrid! Wake up! You do _not_ want to be late on your first day!" Hermione was shaking her shoulder softly. "Professor Snape is not very forgiving. I'll meet you in the common room," Hermione said, shutting the door behind her. Parvati and Lavender had left already.

"Oh, Jesus," Astrid mumbled, changing into her uniform and packing her book bag. Her eyes lingered on her new journal, but she shoved it under her pillow.

When she arrived in the common room, it was almost empty. "We can still make the morning Post," Hermione said.

As they sat down, sure enough, a crowd of owls flew through the Great Hall. One dropped the newspaper in front of Hermione, and Ron got a package from Mrs. Weasley: several pairs of socks and his copy of _Standard Book of Spells: Grade Five_.

Astrid and Jackson both received letters, too.

_'Dear Astrid,_

_A little bird has told me about your choice in friendship with a Slytherin! Draco Malfoy, to top it off! I am sure Harry has warned you enough about him and his father, so don't go hanging around with the wrong sort!_

_Also, glad to hear you're in Gryffindor! Should be sign enough not to be around that lying, snivelling f-_

_Hello, Astrid,_

_Sorry to interrupt Sirius' letter. He is happy that you have arrived safely at Hogwarts, and to know you and your brother are in Gryffindor. Everyone here misses you and wishes you a good first day in school,_

_Remus Lupin.'_

Astrid laughed aloud at her letter. "Jack, what did yours say?" She asked, as Jackson was reading his through.

"Ha, Sirius said he's thinking about sending you a Howler! And Mr. Lupin and everyone else says hi, too, but that's all," he said.

"Yeah, Sirius seems to have gotten word we're friends with Draco, although he didn't mention you...," Astrid frowned, skimming her letter again. "Harry! What did you tell Si- Snuffles!" Astrid hissed.

"I was just concerned! I didn't think anything'd happen!" Harry said, putting his hands up in mock innocence.

"You did not mention Jackson at all! Now, he's just mad at me!"

"Well, you were the only one wandering the corridors after dinner by yourself!" Harry said. Astrid glared half-heartedly at him before returning to her eggs.

-

The Potter Twins were given a substantial amount of homework in all of their classes. Besides the catching up, it was their OWL year (‘ _no Time-travel related excuses!_ ’ according to Professor McGonagall).

"Fuck, Az, how are we supposed to do all of this _and_ save the world from the magical version of Hitler?" Jackson grumbled, shifting his books around so he could see Astrid.

"We split it down the middle. We both do half of each subject, and then co-"

"Absolutely not! How are you going to pass your Owls that way?" Hermione demanded, taking a seat at their table in the common room. "I'll help you, as long as you don't copy of each other- it's painfully obvious."

The weekend arrived with a flurry of snow. Jackson and Astrid were planning on spending the day in the library.

"But it's Saturday! And Quidditch tryouts are next week, and - What's that?" Jackson said, looking at the small piece of parchment that dropped in front of Astrid. The owl that had delivered it had already flown off.

_'Dear Astrid and Jackson,_

_I apologize for not meeting you in person, at the moment. Hopefully tomorrow night, I will be available to answer all of your many questions._

_In the meantime, please progress the story. If I am correct, both of you know how to defeat Voldemort. I would like you to get a head start._

_-A. P. W. B. D'_

"Who's A. P-?" Jackson started.

"Jack, I will explain to you on the way," Astrid said, standing up from her half-eaten breakfast.

"Can we at least-?"

"No! Come on!" Astrid grabbed his sleeve, dragging him up a flight of stairs. Glancing around, she whispered fervently to him. "Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, you idiot, didn't you read the books? We are going to the Chamber, so we can destroy the diadem."

"Oh, yeah, okay," Jackson said. "Why don't we split up, it'll be faster?"

"Okay, yeah, sure. _You_ go down into the Chamber of Secrets by yourself, and get a Basilisk fang from it's rotting corpse, and _I'll_ go to the Room of Requirement, sound good?" Astrid said, rolling her eyes.

"All right, I get it."

The second floor girls' bathroom was not flooded, much to Astrid’s surprise. 

"Hello, Myrtle," Jackson said, shutting and locking the door to the bathroom door.

"Who are _you?_ " Moaning Myrtle hissed. "I've never seen you two here before. Here to make fun of me?" She said, making a face at them.

"No, we need to go into the Chamber. Um, do you know Parseltongue, Az?"

"No. Just pretend, I think Ron did when he came down here in book seven." Jackson made a strangled hissing noise (it sounded more like several coughs, to Astrid), and the sink moved, falling out of sight into the tiled floor. "After you." He glared at her, before sliding down the tunnel.

They landed with a sickening crunch, from the piles of small animal skeletons they landed on. They hurried through the Chamber, avoiding the large pile of rocks that blocked one path. "That must've been where Lockhart's spell backfired," Astrid said, pointing.

As their footsteps echoed through the tunnels, they came upon the tail-end of the Basilisk with a gasp. Pulling their robes over their face, they ran to the front. Jackson made to grab a fang quickly- practically jamming his hand into the Basilisk’s mouth- before Astrid stopped him.

"You'll get yourself killed, Jack. The venom is lethal," she said through her shirt. She didn't have the heart to make fun of him, what with the smell of the corpse. She gingerly removed a fang and put it in her robes pocket. "Let's get out of here."

Once they were out of the Chamber, they breathed freely. "How the _hell_ did twelve-year-old Ron and Harry survive down there? I might be sick...," Jackson said, placing his hands on his knees.

"Dunno," Astrid breathed. "Come on, the sooner we finish this, the better." They climbed the stairs to the seventh floor and stood in front of the tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet. "Wait!"

"What?" Jackson asked impatiently.

"The final battle," she said, looking nervously for unwanted listeners. "Harry saved Draco's life in this room. This is where he learns that Draco is still alive, and can tell Narcissa in the Forbidden Forest, so she repays him by telling Voldemort that Harry is dead. If we do this, then that can't happen!" She whispered fervently.

"What if we just told Harry to say yes, before he goes into the Forbidden Forest?" Jackson suggested, rolling his eyes. "That way this doesn't need to happen, and he still survives, and the Room isn't destroyed. Plus, how else are we supposed to progress, like Dumbledore said?"

Astrid frowned, staring at the blank wall where the door would appear. "All right. We need to write this down, though, in the planner." They did their pacing in front of the wall, and in no time, the door appeared.

"How are we going to find the diadem in here?" Jackson groaned, looking at all the junk in the Room of Hidden Things. " _Accio diadem!"_

"Hermione tried that already. It doesn't work!" Astrid chided.

"Well, sorry I don't remember every little thing she did in all seven books, _Az,"_ Jackson said irritably.

"It should be on top of a bust, marble, I think...," Astrid mumbled, spinning around to spot it. The twins spend a solid twenty minutes picking across the Room, almost tripping over the junk that blocked their path.

"There!" Jackson shouted, pointing. He hopped up onto a wooden chest to retrieve it and placed it on the floor between them. Astrid moved to kneel directly in front of the diadem. She pulled the fang out of her pocket and raised it above the diadem.

She swung the point directly into the front of the crown, and an ear-piercing scream emitted from it. Astrid dropped her weapon, clamping her hands over her ears, and screwing her eyes shut. Her heart plummeted like a brick into her stomach.

"Astrid! Hey, it's over!" Jackson shouted, shaking her shoulder.

When she opened her eyes, her trembling hands slick with the dark blood that poured out of the diadem. "We're fine, Az," Jackson said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "Let's go." He kicked the still-bleeding diadem behind a ruined tapestry before he led Astrid out of the Room.

At the sound of loud footsteps, Astrid absently put her hands in her pockets.

"Oh, Astrid, Jackson, hello. I didn't expect you two to be up here," Draco said, eyebrows raised.

"Hello, Draco," Astrid said blankly.

"Hey, dude," Jackson started. "Listen, we've got lots of work to do, you know, catch-up..." he quickly led Astrid by the sleeve past Draco.

"Wait, I was, uh-" 

Jackson and Astrid turned back to him with tired faces. Although it was before lunch, killing a piece of Voldemort's soul was a lot of hard work.

"It can wait," Draco said, studying their expressions. Jackson shrugged at him.

"See you later," he said firmly, pulling Astrid away again. She was still blank-faced when they arrived in the common room to begin their homework.

"Where were you guys after breakfast?" Harry asked, sitting with them by the fireplace. Astrid sat on the couch with a book open in her lap and was staring at the front page.

"We were talking to McGonagall about the makeup work we have," Jackson said, rearranging his books and papers on the rug. Harry nodded, sitting on the couch next to Astrid. He spent the next few hours answering Jackson's questions about his assignments.

"Well, I'm heading down to lunch," Harry said finally. "You two coming?" Harry glanced at Astrid, who had not turned a page in her book since she'd sat down. Harry looked worriedly to Jackson. 

"Um, we'll meet you down there," Jackson said. The moment Harry left the common room, he stood up, pulling Astrid to her feet by the sleeves of her robes. Her hands still stained darkly with blood.

Jackson lead her up to the Headmaster's Office, where he paused.

"Um, Fizzing Whizbee? No? Uh- Toffee Eclair, Lemon Drop, Cockroach Cluster, there!" He said finally, as the gargoyle leaped aside. He pulled Astrid onto the moving staircase. The ride up was a lot slower than he imagined, but that might've been because he was in such a hurry.

"Professor!" He shouted when he reached the large, wooden door. He knocked loudly. "Professor Dumbledore! It's urgent!" The door swung open as he raised his fist to knock again.

Professor Trelawney sat in front of Dumbledore's desk, weeping quietly. Dumbledore himself was sitting in his chair, hands propped up beneath his chin.

"Ah, Mister Potter, Miss Potter, I was not expecting you two until tomorrow!" He said, feigning surprise. "Professor Trelawney, we must continue this conversation at another time."

Trelawney stood abruptly, glaring at the Headmaster, before turning from him with a sweep of her many shawls. She clacked her way to the moving staircase in her short heels, almost tripping over her long skirt.

"And to what do I owe the honor," Dumbledore said, gesturing to the now empty seats in front of his desk. Jackson sat Astrid down in one seat as she still was staring blankly into space.

"Well, she killed the Horcrux," Jackson snapped. "And she's hardly said anything! All the way until she stabbed the damn thing, she was fine! What happened?" He demanded, glaring at the professor.

"Jackson, I understand that something upset you, but please, take a seat," Dumbledore said, gesturing again to the second empty chair.

"Professor, this never happened in the books! No one ever got hurt from the Horcruxes after someone destroyed them! _Wearing_ the Horcruxes sometimes cursed you, but Astrid never even touched the thing! If she's cursed, I'm not going to just-!"

"Jackson, she is not cursed. Astrid will be fine while I explain this all to you," Dumbledore admonished. Jackson scowled at him before slouching into the chair.

"I take it you were never a fan of authority figures, Jackson," he said with a small smile. Jackson did not reply, but raised an eyebrow in objection. "From now on, you must understand that we are on the same side. I understand how you care for your sister, but it will be a great deal of energy wasted if you direct your anger at me.

"Now, Astrid is not cursed," he said, looking directly into Jackson's eyes. His expression softened. "She has just killed a living being. For someone like Astrid, this is not something to be taken lightly, no matter how the being was evil. As you both progress the story, you will find great strength and weaknesses you possess. Some of them come from within you; some of them are enhanced by Time itself."

"As I said before, Time sent the both of you here with a purpose, but it did not send you unprepared. To change Fate, Time has influenced your strengths to be of great value. For Astrid, her compassion for others is even more than it was in her previous life. As I am sure you know well, this is not to be underestimated."

Jackson nodded with the hint of a smile. “I guess- but she was always the angry one, though.”

“Angry about what?”

Jackson frowned. “Usually someone did or said something mean, or _wrong._ Morally. I guess it was always _for_ someone, then. She’s not going to be happy, though.” 

Dumbledore nodded again. "Then, I imagine that will be amplified as well. This also comes with a cost. The Horcrux, although hardly feeling, was technically alive. She is in shock, almost like she was stunned, it seems. Given her compassion, it is difficult for her to hurt, let alone kill, a living being. A few days in the hospital wing, and she should be as good as new."

"But Professor, there will be times when she has to protect others, and herself. Will she still be able to do that?" Jackson asked worriedly.

"Yes, but it will be difficult for her. When you first arrived in Britain, Alastor Moody recounted his journey with you to Headquarters. I recall he told me that dear Astrid had swung the leg of your living room coffee table at him," Dumbledore said with a smile. "She didn't truly cause harm to Alastor, and her compassion for your safety outweighed everything else. As the story progresses, we will note how this strength affects her, as well as other strengths that Time enhances in the both of you."

Jackson ran a hand over his face, suddenly tired. "Thank you, Professor. And I am sorry for yelling at you," he said finally. “If Astrid’s not here to be mad, I have to do it.” 

"All is forgiven, Jackson. Now, let's take Astrid to the Madame Pomfrey for some much-needed rest."

-

Astrid woke up the next day, with a pile of sweets on her bedside table. Jackson sat in a chair next to her bed with a book open over his snoring face. She shook her head fondly. 

Given the sunlight streaming through the high windows in the hospital wing, Astrid guess it was mid-afternoon. The last thing she remembered was finding the Ravenclaw Horcrux. 

"Ah, Miss Potter! Professor Dumbledore wanted to know when you awoke! I will go get him," Madame Pomfrey chirped, rushing back out of the wing. Astrid only had time to blink before she left. 

"Jackson, wake up," Astrid hissed, punching her brother softly in the shoulder. The book fell to the ground with a clatter. 

"Oh! Astrid, thank god! You were so quiet after we got out of the Room of Requirement, and-!" Jackson started excitedly. 

"Ah, I see Mister Potter has started explaining already. Excellent!" Dumbledore said, his robes billowing behind him as he entered the hospital wing.

"Not really, sir, I don't know what happened...," Astrid muttered. 

"Don't worry, I will explain." Dumbledore went over what he told Jackson in his office the day before. Astrid nodded along politely, picking at a loose thread on her bed sheets. 

"Is that why I feel nauseous every time I think about it? I mean, I know I did what's best, but..."

"Exactly. Astrid, everything that Time has given you has been both a blessing, and a curse. Your knowledge is insurmountably helpful, but I can only imagine the burden you two carry," Dumbledore said, nodding solemnly. 

"As you can see by your large collection of sweets, you have had visitors. Would you like me to send them in? I believe Professor McGonagall has told them you have caught a non contagious stomach bug," Dumbledore chuckled, standing from his chair. 

"Yes, please. Thank you, Professor," Astrid said with a smile, and Dumbledore left the room.

“That’s a bullshit blessing,” Astrid grumbled. “Why couldn’t it be something useful, like bravery or- or charisma?”

“Compassion is useful, Az- you kinda already had it,” Jackson said with a laugh. “And you’ve got plenty of bravery and charisma.”

“I still feel like I’ve been cheated out of a good blessing.”

“You missed the chance to say ‘bamboozled.”

“ _Fuck!”_

“You sound fine,” Hermione said, carrying a large stack of books. She was followed quickly by Ron and Harry.

“Yeah, I’m cool,” Astrid said, waving away Harry’s concerned look. Hermione set her books on the bedside table, and Astrid pulled her journal off the top. The first page was covered in a rushed scrawl, so she snapped it shut again. 

She did her best to listen to her friends chatter about Quidditch and exams, but ended up nodding along blankly.

"Ah, I'm super tired again, and Madame Pomfrey probably wants me to rest," Astrid said, not meeting anyone's eyes. Harry and Hermione squinted at her for a moment before nodding.

"All right, but Professor McGonagall expects you back in class tomorrow," Hermione chided. Astrid nodded at her, smiling patiently. 

The moment they were gone (except for Jackson) she opened her journal again.

' _Astrid-_

_Dumbledore just sent me an owl saying you are in the hospital wing! What happened to being careful? Are you all right? Dumbledore's letter did not tell us anything, and Molly is beside herself worried about you!_

_Was it the Malfoy kid? You know, his father wasn't very nice at fifteen either. I trust your judgement, but Sirius (and probably Harry, too) seem to think he is bad news. Were you wandering out of the common room at night? Harry's been so awful about that, but he has the map and cloak at least! D-_

_Hey, Astrid, it's Padfoot now. Moony is a bit panicky, so please write back as soon as possible. I'm sure you're okay or Dumbledore would've said something._

_Hugs,_

_Padfoot.'_

Astrid stared with her eyebrows furrowed at her page for another few minutes before she even thought about replying. This was the second time they had sent interrupting notes, interestingly enough. 

' _Moony and Padfoot? Apparently?_

_Jackson and I are okay. We have been following all the school rules, or at least I have. I can't speak for Jackson._

_It wasn't Draco; I haven't seen him out of class since the opening feast. Plus, he is a_ child _, and I highly doubt he would do anything to land me in the hospital wing._

_I can’t tell you what happened until later. Much later._

_Sorry_

_Love you both,_

_Astrid.'_

She read her note a few times over before shutting her journal. 

"Why can’t we tell him?" Jackson asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Not a lot. Jack, we can't tell either of them anything."

"Maybe we should ask Dumbledore?" Jackson suggested. 

"I trust Dumbledore, but what does he really know about this? And good will happen?”

“Well, is the worst thing that could happen?" Jackson said with a heartwarming smile. 

"Dumbledore could find out and be real mad, or we could've screwed up the timeline enough that all our knowledge is useless and everyone still dies anyway," Astrid grumbled, glaring weakly at Jackson. “And then everyone hates us because we have to explain how we knew everything and failed anyways.”

"All right, Az, I'm going to go get Madame Pomfrey to give you a potion so you go to sleep, and tomorrow, it's business as usual!" He announced, clapping his hands loudly. 

"But-"

"You're spiraling, Az. You act like this isn't the first time you've done this. You’re just going to get more and more mad."

Astrid glared at him, but accepted the potion anyway. She was still fairly pale and fragile looking in the hospital bed, so she would not have convinced Jackson either way. She fell asleep before she read Remus' reply.


	6. Chapter 6 - Hogsmeade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, romantic drama, and a tiny duel.

"Wait, I forgot my herbology book! I'll catch up with you," Astrid said to Hermione, who was now stopped on the path to the greenhouses. She turned back to the dormitories, running through the entrance hall.

"Hello, Astrid." She whipped around, slightly out of breath.

"Oh, hi, Draco," she said with a quick smile. "Sorry, I've forgotten my herbology book, I've got to get going."

"Actually, can I ask you something?" Draco said, running a hand through his hair sheepishly.

"Uh, sure, if you're fast."

"Oh, um…, all right. I was wondering if you'd… maybe... wanttogotoHogsmeade with me?" Draco blurted.

"Huh? Draco, if this is a joke, I-"

"No! I'm just- I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade. With me."

"Oh! _Oh._ Um, isn't the next Hogsmeade trip on..."

"Valentines Day, yes," Draco finished, face flushed. Astrid stared at him for a few moments longer than she should have. "If you don't want to, I can just-"

"No!” She shouted. “I mean- It's not that I don't want to! I just.... You know how Harry is, and-" her watch beeped loudly at her. "Ugh, I'm sorry, Draco, can I get back to you on this? I'm not saying no, I'm just super late!" Astrid said with a nervous laugh. 

"Okay. I'll see you later, then?" 

"Yes. See you later," Astrid said, then turned to sprint up the stairs to the Gryffindor dormitories. She made it back to herbology only ten minutes late.

"Miss Potter! Has the Gryffindor Tower gotten farther away since the last time I checked?" Professor Sprout scolded.

"I'm sorry, Professor, I ran into someone on the way there," Astrid breathed, clutching the stitch in her side. She sat heavily into the stool next to Harry. 

"You're red in the face, Astrid," Hermione whispered over the table. Astrid glared at her. 

"I sprinted here, of course I'm red in the face." Hermione still had a smug look on her face when Astrid opened her textbook. " _This isn't even the right one_ ," she whispered to herself. Harry snorted into his hand.

-

"So!" Hermione said when they returned to the common room. She sat on the couch next to Astrid, who was reading a page of her potions book for the third time without absorbing any of it.

"So?" Astrid said, glad for a reason to shut her book.

"Who'd you 'run into' this morning?" Hermione said with a gleam in her eyes. Astrid squinted at her before looking around the common room. Harry was busy in an aggressive game of Exploding Snap with Jackson, and Ron was being harassed by Fred and George.

"All right, fine because you'll figure it out anyway," she glanced at Harry one more time. "Promise not to tell anyone." Hermione nodded eagerly. "Draco asked me to Hogsmeade with him," Astrid all but whispered.

"Draco-!"

" _Hermione."_

"Sorry, Astrid," Hermione said with a sheepish smile. "Isn't the next trip on-"

"Valentine's Day, yeah. I haven't given him an answer, and I haven't told anyone yet."

"Well, do you want to go with him?"

"I don't know. Not romantically, but like I'm down to hang out as friends. I'm thinking it's a bad idea to go alone with him on Valentine's Day," Astrid said, picking at her sleeve. "But I don't want to hurt his feelings, you know?"

"Tell him, then. Maybe it can be a group excursion," Hermione suggested. 

"What, with who? Jackson? It's not like anyone else would come, and Draco's friends don't like me." Astrid remembered the glares she'd gotten from Pansy Parkinson at breakfast on their first full day. "Jackson doesn't want to third wheel, and it's our first day in Hogsmeade! I don't want to ditch him..." 

"Jackson will be fine, Astrid. Just talk to Draco, then, tell him what you just told me," Hermione said. 

"Oh, all right. I'm supposed to talk to him tomorrow after lunch," Astrid muttered. 

"Good plan. Now, the potions theory...," Hermione started, picking up the book that Astrid had set aside. 

-

Throughout lunch the next day, Astrid barely ate anything. Shy kept glancing at the Slytherin table for Draco until Hermione kicked her under the table. 

"Ow!"

"You look like you have a twitch, Astrid. Everything will be fine," Hermione said, glancing at Jackson and Harry, who were both squinting at them.

"What's happening?" Jackson asked, nudging Astrid's elbow. 

"I'll tell you later." 

Although she hadn't really eaten, Astrid stood up from the Gryffindor table. "I have to...," she started, but walked away before she gave a proper excuse. Jackson stood up to follow, but Hermione kicked him, too. 

Astrid only waited in the entrance hall for thirty seconds before Draco entered from the Great Hall. "Do you think they saw you?" Astrid asked. 

"I don't know," Draco said, opening the double doors that led to the grounds. They walked for a few minutes without speaking, their breath coming out in white clouds. "So..."

"Draco, I talked to Hermione about it, and...," Astrid started, turning to face Draco as they reached the Black Lake. "Okay, don't make that face. For all you've done to her, you should be grateful that she hasn't kicked your ass." Draco's face paled, and he didn't meet her eyes. 

"She didn't even suggest that I say no. She's the only one that supports us being your friend,” she said. His eyes widened.

"Why?"

"Because you need friends, and she’s a fucking genius. But this is part of the reason I have to say no," Astrid said in one breath. "I'm sorry, Draco, but you can't treat my friends and family like trash and want me to go on a date with you."

Draco nodded solemnly. "Okay."

"Jackson and I are gonna hang out with Ron and Hermione, though. If you want to come with... I'll try to make Ron behave if you do, too," Astrid suggested. She hadn't brought this up with them, but it seemed like a good idea. 

"What? There's no way I'd hang out with-"

"Watch it!" Astrid admonished. Draco shut his mouth quickly. 

"Are you sure?" 

"No, not really," Astrid said honestly. "But you're always welcome. At least with me and Jackson.”

"What about Potter?"

"Huh? Oh, Harry. I think he's got plans..." Astrid muttered. She wasn't sure that Harry had asked Cho, yet.

"All right. I'm in," Draco said finally, his cheeks pink, but not from the cold.

"Really? I didn't think... I mean, I'll let them know! Thanks Draco!" Astrid gave him a quick hug and dashed back into the castle. _I don't know if that was a good idea..._

Hermione was waiting for her in the entrance hall. "How'd it go?"

"Um, I don't know," Astrid muttered, pulling Hermione into an empty classroom and shutting the door loudly. "I invited him to hang out with us and he said yes."

"What! Astrid, Ron and Harry-!"

"Harry will be busy, probably. Cho's going to make him ask her out," Astrid said, rubbing her eyes. 

"How do you know?"

"She asked me how to ask him, for some reason."

"All right, fine. Ron's not going to be happy, though," Hermione said understandingly. 

"I know. I'll have to threaten him, probably. I told Draco to behave, too, but I think he'll listen," Astrid muttered. Hermione smiled at her, shaking her head.

"Can't leave you alone for _one minute_ , can we?" Hermione giggled, pulling Astrid back into the hallway. 

When they got back to the common room, Fred and George were loudly demonstrating their new products.

"Headless Hats!" George shouted. "Two Galleons a piece!" He gestured to Fred, who was holding a pointed hat with a large, pink feather. 

There were shouts and giggles as Fred's head disappeared underneath it.

Hermione shook her head at them. "Obviously some sort of Invisibility Spell, but it's rather clever that it extends over the field of..." 

Astrid wasn't listening, but was watching Harry, who sat alone at a corner table. He looked rather ill. "You okay, Harry?"

"I had my first Occlumency lesson," he said, staring unseeing at his homework. Astrid nodded sympathetically. 

"I'm sorry," Astrid said, before sitting down across from him. "Hey, did Cho talk to you today?" 

"Oh, yeah! How did you know?" 

"It's a secret," Astrid said with a grin.

"Well, we're going to Hogsmeade together," Harry said, beaming. 

"That's great!" Astrid stood, giving Harry a big smile, before making eye contact with Hermione, who was sitting with Ron and Jackson. She stood up, but before she made it to them, someone jammed a hat over her eyes. 

"As you can see," she heard someone shout. "The Headless Hats work on everyone one!" In a few seconds, the hat turned invisible, and she turned to see the Weasley Twins on either side of her. 

"Ha ha, hilarious guys!" Astrid said, pulling the hat off and hitting them playfully with it. 

"Nice hair," George quipped, ruffling it some more. 

"Hey! You little-!" She jammed the hat over his eyes and poked him hard in the ribs. Fred laughed loudly behind her. 

"Ow! Hey, wait!" George said before Astrid went to join her friends. "We're having a meeting tomorrow in the Room at six, remember? We'll show you how to get in."

"Oh, right, I totally forgot. I'll be there," she said, still laughing a bit. She sat next to Jackson on the couch.

"Hey, you disappeared after lunch," Jackson said.

"Yeah, about that. Draco asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him." 

"What!" Ron shouted, standing up. Hermione yanked him down by the back of his robes. 

"I said no, that I didn't want to go on a date with him, but I invited him to hang out with us," Astrid muttered, wincing at Ron's reaction.

"Astrid! Why? That little-"

"He'll be nice, Ron," Astrid scolded. "I said you'd behave, too, if I have to hex you into next week."

" _Me?_ I'm nice! Hermione, tell her-" Ron turned to Hermione, who wasn't making eye contact with him. " _He's the one who-!"_

"It's happening. This is the only time, too, since Harry is hanging out with Cho, anyway," Astrid said. Ron blinked, shutting his mouth. 

"Hey, Ron, go check on Harry, he isn't looking very good," Hermione said, watching Harry climb the stairs to the boys' dormitories. 

"Okay, after I finish this essay," Ron grumbled, opening his books. 

-

Astrid met up with Draco in the entrance hall on Valentine's Day. He was talking to Pansy Parkinson, who leered at Astrid as she came down the stairs. 

"Have fun, Draco," Pansy quipped, kissing Draco on the cheek before running to catch up with the other Slytherins. 

"Ooh, Mr. Popular, are we?" Astrid said with a laugh. Draco was rubbing his cheek with his sleeve.

"She's not thrilled with me, I think she wanted me to ask her...," Draco said, trailing off. 

"Why didn't you?"

"I dunno. She keeps talking about us and the future and the Dark Lord. Like everything is set in stone," Draco mumbled, opening the door for Astrid.

The courtyard was filled with students, who were waiting in a long line. Filch and Professor Umbridge were reviewing a long list and scrutinizing every student that came through.

"Well, it's all up to you," Astrid muttered quietly, not wanting to be overheard. "Dumbledore can help you, too, if you didn't want to follow your parents." 

Draco stopped and blinked at her before resuming his pace. He said nothing until they reached the front of the line. 

"Ah, your permission slip, Miss Potter," Umbridge sneered, pulling the paper out of her robes. "Signed R. J. Lupin. I'm not sure we accept permission slips from half-breeds...," she trailed off with a sinister smile. 

"Please, Professor Umbridge," Draco said politely. "We were going to spend Valentine's day together..."

"Oh, of course, Draco," Umbridge said, patting Draco's face like a fond aunt. As they walked past, Umbridge glared at Astrid. 

"Sorry, I know this isn't supposed to be a one-on-one thing, but..." Draco mumbled.

"It's cool, I know you were just trying to help," Astrid said with a genuine smile. "I'd forgotten that Mr. Lupin had signed our permission slips, and I didn't think anything of it." 

Draco nodded, but did not continue the conversation. When they reached Hogsmeade, Astrid glimpsed Harry and Cho disappearing into another shop. 

"Hey guys!" Jackson shouted when they went into Three Broomsticks. He was sat with Ron and Hermione, the formerly looking particularly grouchy. 

"Hey," Astrid said, taking a sip of his butterbeer. "Holy shit, how are you guys not addicted to this stuff," she giggled, taking another drink. The butterbeer felt warm in her stomach, and her cheeks warmed back up after being in the cold outside. 

"That's mine!" Jackson said, pulling his glass away from her. "Go get your own!" 

Astrid nodded, turning to Draco. "Sit down, I'll be right back." He nodded nervously, but sat next to Jackson. When she came back with two glasses, there was complete silence. 

"Wow, don't have too much fun," Astrid said nervously. "Um, oh! I really liked Hagrid's lesson last Friday," she said noncommittally. Hagrid had excitedly introduced them to Crups. Hermione muttered something to Ron under her breath.

"It made me want a dog," Jackson said.

"I’m pretty sure you’re already Crookshanks co-owner with how much you’re around that cat,” Astrid joked. Hermione wasn’t paying any attention, but was staring at a woman who’d just walked into the pub. “Is that Rita Skeeter?” 

"Um, yes, I totally forgot she was coming. I'll be right back. Entertain her, or something!" Hermione said, greeting the reporter before running out of the shop. Rita took one look at Astrid and Jackson and hurried over to them. 

"Are you Harry Potter's cousins?" She said, pulling out a quill. They nodded nervously, and Astrid eyed the floating notepad bitterly.

"Off the record, yeah. Just found out at Christmas," Jackson said, looking out the front window for Hermione.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Rita asked eagerly. 

Astrid frowned, staring at the quill. "Like, we can have a conversation. I'm not down for an interview right at this moment." 

Ron was scowling at Rita instead of Draco, at least.

"Oh, all right," she grumbled, putting away her notebook and quill. Rita talked mostly about Harry and Dumbledore- things she wished she was allowed to print. "What d'you think? High Inquisitor ready to thr-"

"Ms. Skeeter, with all due respect, no one cares," Jackson grumbled into his glass. She stared at him, aghast, as the other laughed. 

"Next Prophet, ' _Harry Potter's Twin Cousins'_ , foul-mouthed, rude, b-"

"Skeeter!" Harry said angrily, storming up to their table. 

"Oh, Harry! Just the boy I was-"

"Stop harassing my cousins! Hermione said she has something for you to print."

"Oh? Is that why she wanted to talk to me?" Rita said, standing up, almost knocking over her glass of wine. As they walked away, Harry gave Astrid a look that said _we'll talk about this later._

"Well, that was unexpected," Jackson said, looking awkwardly at Ron, who'd still said nothing the whole time. "Hey, since Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow, either of you got tips?" Ron said nothing, glaring alternately between Draco and Rita. 

"I didn't know you were trying out," Draco said. 

"Yeah, could be a Beater or Seeker, but I think that'll be Ginny," he said, not looking at Ron, who huffed loudly. "I know you play Seeker, but you've been on the team for a few years?"

Draco and Jackson made small talk about Quidditch for a few minutes before Harry came back to their table. 

"Astrid, can I talk to you? _Outside?_ " He hissed. 

"Um, we're kinda busy, but you can join us if- _Okay."_ Harry yanked her by the arm out the front door. Draco stood up, but Jackson pulled him back down.

"What, Harry?" Astrid all but shouted once the door closed. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were going out with Draco on Valentine's Day? I said it was fine being friends with him, but-"

“I’m not dating him! And even if I was, I can date whoever the _fuck_ I want!”

“But-!”

"Some shit date this would be, being with my brother and Ron Weasley, who has done nothing but glare at him! We are _hanging out!_ And he has done nothing but be nice this whole time!" Astrid shouted, and Harry rolled his eyes. 

"What about Hermione?"

"She was lovely, actually, and she was probably the one who'd gotten Ron to come in the first place. I didn't tell you because I knew this would happen!" Astrid said, turning around to go back inside. 

"Don't just walk away! Astrid!" But she'd already shut the door behind her. Jackson was sitting uncomfortably between Ron and Draco, who were glaring at each other. 

"What happened?" Astrid snapped before taking a deep breath.

"Ron started it," Jackson said, draining his glass. "Well, I'm ready to go. Thanks for this, Astrid. It was a lovely idea." He pulled on his jacket and paid for his butterbeer. Astrid furrowed her brows at him, watching him go. 

"Come on, guys, let's just leave," Astrid said weakly. Neither of the boys moved.

"Should've known this would happen, since your fa-"

Before she could stop him, Draco had pulled out his wand, and Ron followed. 

"No! You guys can't just-" 

Draco had already sent a spell over the table, which Ron had blocked easily. Astrid stepped forward, shoving Draco, who whirled around to face her, ready to send another curse. 

Astrid raised his eyebrows at him, glancing at the wand that was pointed at her. "I'm going to go tip Madam Rosmerta, and I'm leaving. Don't follow, please," Astrid said tiredly, walking up t

o the bar. Several patrons were staring at her, but she ignored them. She gave Madam Rosmerta a handful of Galleons, hoping to counteract the fighting she'd caused.

"Astrid, wait!"

The door of the pub clattered shut behind her, and she pulled her jacket tighter in the February chill. There was another clatter as the door opened and shut again. 

"See, I knew-" 

"Ron, fuck off," Astrid growled, trying to stop the tears that were springing to her eyes. Ron stopped short, watching Astrid walk away. 

-

The walk back to Hogwarts was much longer this time, since she was alone. It gave Astrid a lot of time to consider what had went wrong. _Well, Hermione disappearing was unlucky. And Harry was never supposed to show up._ Astrid wiped her face furiously. _Who am I kidding,_ she thought. _This was never going to work._

When she arrived back at the castle, it was mostly empty, with most of the students still in Hogsmeade. Astrid thought Jackson might've been back, but it turned out he'd gone to Zonko's with Harry.

Astrid pulled out her journal, rereading what Remus had written last. He'd wished her luck after she told him her plan for her Hogsmeade trip. 

_'I screwed up. It was a bad idea,'_ she wrote, scrubbing her face with the sleeve of her sweater again. Astrid shut her book and shoved it under her pillow. Sitting on her bed, she pulled out her homework, hoping at least to pretend that she didn't care about what had happened. 

Soon, students began to trickle back into the castle. Hermione came up to sit on her bed next to her.

"What happened?" 

"I don't know," Astrid said, hoping her face wasn't tear stained. "Harry pulled me away for a few minutes, demanding to know what was going on, and when I got back, they were glaring at each other. Jackson left, and then Ron and Malfoy fought."

"Oh, Astrid, I'm sorry. I was trying to get that lizard woman to print the right story. I should've picked a different day to-" 

"It's okay, 'Mione. It was never going to work, anyway," Astrid sniffed, shaking her head. 

"Well, they're all back if you want to yell at them."

"No, thanks, though. I'll probably go to bed," Astrid said finally. Hermione nodded sadly and went back into the common room. 

-

The next day was Quidditch tryouts, and Astrid knew Jackson wanted her to watch yesterday, but she wasn't sure if he was mad at her. She stretched slowly and dressed for the cold weather. She went into the common room and spotted Ginny preparing to go down to the pitch. Astrid had forgotten that she was trying out, too. 

"Hey, Ginny," Astrid said tiredly. "What time are tryouts?"

"They start at ten, but I'm gonna go get some practice laps in," Ginny said with a smile. "Hey, what'd you do yesterday? Everyone came back from Hogsmeade looking upset."

"Oh- um, I'll tell you later," Astrid mumbled. She headed down to the Great Hall, prepared to eat breakfast alone when she saw Hermione. "Hey, 'Mione."

"Hi, Astrid. Just a warning, I think Malfoy's going to try to ambush you on the way down to the Quidditch pitch," she said, looking pointedly at the Slytherin table, where he was sitting with Crabbe and Goyle. 

"Thanks. Will you walk with me?" Astrid asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Astrid, I have homework for Runes due tomorrow- it's going to take all day," Hermione said sadly. Astrid smiled at her.

"It's okay, I'll survive."

"Hello, Asteroid," someone said, taking a seat on her left. 

"We heard you need an escort!" said someone on her right. 

"Hi, Fred, George," Astrid mumbled, trying to give them both a smile, but was unsuccessful.

"Don't worry, Ron already told us the whole story. He’s an idiot," Fred said with a small laugh. 

"Which one of them is the idiot?"

"All of them," George answered, piling scrambled eggs on his plate. "Although, we are partial to saying Malfoy is an idiot."

"That's fine, I agree, I think" Astrid mumbled, resting her chin on her hand tiredly. "Who do you think will make tryouts?" She asked, trying to keep the conversation off of her Hogsmeade trip. 

"Oh, I have no idea. Never pay enough attention to anyone else," Fred said with a laugh. 

"Oh, Ginny will be Seeker," Hermione said confidently. "She's been talking about it all week. Even if she wasn't the best, she'd get in on sheer willpower alone." Astrid nodded along blankly. 

"Jackson is the same. Ron has been trying to teach him, but I think he's just learning by trial and error. Plus, Harry is always yelling at him from the stands."

"Has he been on a lot of sports teams?" One twin asked. Astrid wasn't bothered enough to figure out which one. 

"He played baseball, track, and... something else, I don't remember. Muggle sports are a lot of running, but he can do the whole throw-and-catch thing," Astrid mused. 

"Oh, look at the time- we should get going!" Fred said cheerily. Astrid looked up and noticed Umbridge had arrived in the Great Hall. 

"I could not agree more!" George said heartily. They waved goodbye to Hermione and dashed out onto the grounds. Draco was lingering by the greenhouses, so Astrid and the Weasley Twins skirted around them.

"Come on, I could still hex him from here," Fred suggested, pretending to aim his wand. 

"No, Umbridge would hang you by your thumbs, Fred," Astrid said with a half hearted laugh. 

When they arrived at the Quidditch pitch, the stands were practically empty. After a few minutes, the remaining members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team kicked off, to begin.

"All right, you lot!" Angelina, the Quidditch captain, shouted. "If you're rowdy or distracting, I'll kick you out. That means you two," she said, pointing at the Weasley Twins, who laughed.

"It's easy to pick Ginny out, but I don't see Jackson...," Astrid mumbled, hands jammed in her pockets. 

"There," George said, pointing to a group that was circling the pitch. It seemed like he could keep up, at least. 

True to her word, Ginny flew circles around all the other tryouts. She caught the snitch four out of the five times it was caught over the two-hour tryout period. Astrid watched Jackson nervously, but he seemed quite at home with a bat in his hands. When the event was over, Astrid and the Weasley Twins made their way onto the field. 

"You did fantastic!" Astrid said, giving Ginny a hug. "You'll make it for sure!"

"D'ya think?" Ginny asked, breathless. "I missed the fourth one, Thompson kept shouting at me," she said, glaring at a rather short sixth year. 

"Ginny, I'm positive. Now, do you see Jackson? I wanted to...," Astrid trailed off, looking around the small crowd on the field. "You know what, we'll see him later in the common room, probably. When do you find out?"

"Angelina is posting the results tomorrow. Now, I'm starving!" 

-

"Hey, you disappeared after tryouts- I wanted to congratulate you," Astrid said, sitting at his table in the common room.

"Thanks," he said shortly, scratching out another sentence on his essay. Astrid blinked at him for a few minutes before retreating up to the girls' dorms. Opening her journal, she saw that Remus had written back. 

_'What happened? Is everything okay?'_

She sighed, pulling her hair out of her face subconsciously

_Hogsmeade was a disaster. I think everyone is mad at me, and I'm still not sure what happened. Everything was okay until Hermione left, and Harry dragged me away to yell at me. When I got back, Ron and Malfoy were glaring at each other, and then Jackson left, too_

_Malfoy pulled his wand first, so I guess it's his fault, but Jackson said Ron started it. I don't know, they won't talk to me, and I don't want to hear from Malfoy. Hermione has been great._

_Jackson and Ginny probably made the Quidditch team though. Ginny was fantastic as always. I'm hanging out with Fred and George later, so I'll be okay._

_Love and miss you,_

_Asteroid._


	7. Chapter 7 - The Quibbler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, light violence, light homophobia.

"All right, so you close your eyes and walk in front of this tapestry three times, thinking hard about what kind of room you need," Fred explained, standing in front of the Room of Requirement. 

"What do you think about?" Astrid asked.

"A room with several comfy couches. The first few times we met up we sat on the floor, but we know better now." The three of them paced in front of the tapestry, and it wasn't until Astrid bumped her nose into Fred's shoulder she opened her eyes. 

"Three times, Astrid. I suppose you could pace for a few hours, but I don't think it makes a difference," Fred laughed. When he opened the double doors, there were three large couches, and a table that had various snacks and a few cases of butterbeer. 

"Classy," Astrid said, popping the lid off a bottle. 

"Precisely!" George said, sprawling on a couch. 

"So, what do you guys do here? Our high school group we talked about current events or memes or something," Astrid said, sitting by George's feet on the couch.

"We kinda joke around, dunno. Might insult that Umbridge woman some more- that's a popular topic. Also, what the fuck is a meme?" 

Astrid burst out laughing. She took a few full minutes to recover, and said, "it's another word for joke, I guess." 

“ Didn't you say Jackson and Harry might come?" Fred asked.

"Oh, uh- they're still mad at me." George sat up, leaning against the arm of the couch. Astrid continued, "I invited Malfoy to hang out with us in Hogsmeade, and Ron said something when Harry dragged me away to yell at me. When I got back, Jackson was leaving and Draco pulled his wand." 

Astrid was getting tired of telling the story since it left her a little nauseous every time she told it. Fred and George blinked at each other for a moment. 

"Idiots, like I said," Fred said finally.

"Well, don't confront them, it'll probably make it worse," Astrid muttered, picking at a loose thread on the sleeve of her sweater. "I wrote to Moony; he'll probably have something diplomatic and smart to say. I'd ask Hermione, but I don't want her to stick up for Malfoy."

Before Fred or George could retort, the door swung open.

"Hey guys!" 

"Hey. Oh, hello, Astrid!" The new arrivals, Neville and Luna, were surprised to see a newcomer. 

"Sup, Neville," she said.

"Hello, Astrid Potter, my name is Luna," the blonde girl said airily. They sat down on an empty couch. A couple more people came in before Fred clapped his hands and sat down.

"All right, first order of business, we have a new arrival!" He waited for applause, which Astrid smiled sheepishly at. "So, names, pronouns, and whatever else you wanna say." He pointed at Neville, who's face flushed. 

"Oh, um, I'm Neville, he/him. Uh- I have nothing else to share...," he said nervously.

"That's all right. We all know you, anyway, so we'll manage," George said, and nodded to the next person. 

"I'm Luna Lovegood, she/her, please. If you're done with your bottle cap, I've been collecting them...," she trailed off, holding her hand out towards Astrid, who handed over her butterbeer cap.

They went around the circle which was mostly Gryffindor, and a few Hufflepuffs. Luna had collected about ten bottle caps.

"I'm Astrid, she/her. And, uh, I'm here because I'm bi and all of my other friends are mad at me."

"I'm glad we're your priority," George laughed. 

"Just being honest, dude." 

The meeting went as smoothly as one could expect, with Fred and George running it. They put out a few sweets of their own invention, and Hannah Abbott sprouted an impressive amount of feathers. 

"Something like this usually happens," Neville whispered to Astrid, as Fred performed the antidote. Astrid nodded. covering a laugh with her hand. 

When the meeting ended, Astrid stayed behind to help the twins clean up. 

"You know, the Room is always clean when we come back," Fred said, watching Astrid pick up empty bottles. 

"Yeah, but I feel bad leaving it so messy. Plus, I am avoiding most of the people in the common room, so I'm stalling."

"The Malfoy thing? I'm sure it'll blow over in a few days. Plus, me 'n Fred have done way worse," George said. 

"Yeah, I know, but it _sucks!_ Jackson and I hardly ever fight about anything important, and I've never had anyone else to fight with," Astrid grumbled. 

"Well, I'll tell you what: we'll go into the common room, and kick the arse of anyone who-"

" _No-_ Fred, oh my god!" Astrid said, bursting into giggles. "You guys are such awful influences. I love you guys, but I can handle this. Honestly, it'd make me a hypocrite- Harry is just trying to protect me, too."

"But he's wrong!" 

"Yeah, he is, but I can tell him that much. And I could probably kick his ass if I wanted, too." 

They were practically silent on the walk back to the Gryffindor Tower, trying to avoid the Inquisitorial Squad.

"Hey, if we see Malfoy, can I throw Dungbombs at him?" 

"Sure, Fred," Astrid muttered noncommittally. Luckily, they didn't run into him, and jumped through the portrait hole with no detours. 

The common room was mostly empty, so Astrid pulled her journal from her book bag and leaned against the back of the couch, saying goodbye to Fred and George and eagerly reading Remus’ reply.

_I'm sorry to hear it didn't work out with Malfoy. Maybe if you find out what happened while you were gone, you can fix it._

_Keep in mind it's not your job to fix everything. If Malfoy messed up, then that's his own issue. I am sure everyone else will come around. Apparently, Ron and Harry didn't speak for several months last year._

_I'm proud of you for trying to make things work. Must not have been easy, with all their history. Say hello to everyone for me._

_Love and miss you, too,_

_Moony.'_

Astrid smiled sadly at her note. _'It's not your job to fix everything'_ made sense coming from Remus, but it wasn't true. ' _It's literally my job to fix everything...,'_ Astrid thought. 

She sat on the couch by the fireplace, in front of which Jackson sat studying, surrounded by books and papers. When he noticed her, he made a show of standing up and walking away.

She turned to Hermione, who had just sat next to her with her Potions book.. "Remus wrote back," Astrid said, and Hermione reluctantly closed her book. "He said it should all blow over. Also, Ron and Harry have a communication problem, it seems. They didn't talk for months?"

"Oh my god, I forgot all about that!" Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "Ron was just being jealous again, and Harry was being a stubborn git." 

At the sound of his name, Harry came over to their couch. "When was I being a git?" 

"Last year, when Ron was also being a git. And yesterday, in Hogsmeade," Hermione said nonchalantly. 

"What? I was just worried-"

"You're always worried, Harry," Astrid said tiredly. Hermione stood up, putting a hand on Astrid's shoulder before retreating to the girls' dorms. 

"And I was right, wasn't I?"

" _I don't know_ ,” she said bitterly. “I didn't get to see what happened. Jackson said Ron started it, so I'm not sure."

"But Malfoy drew his wand first!" Harry insisted.

"Yeah? And how many times have you had to hold Ron back from punching him? Weren't you kicked off the Quidditch team for trying to beat Malfoy up?"

" _He insulted my parents!"_ Harry all but shouted. A few heads turned towards them, and Fred and George stood up for a second, before Astrid mouthed, ' _Stand down!'_

"Exactly! That's what Ron was doing! You are such a hypocrite!" Astrid hissed. "And I don't know what else happened, since you _yanked_ me out of the building!" 

"I was trying to-!"

"I know what you were trying to do! And it's a nice thought, Harry, but I told you I don't want it. If you'd let me stay, I probably could've stopped the whole thing from happening. Now, Ron and Jackson are mad at me, too."

Harry paused for a moment, frowning. "I didn't know Jackson was mad."

"He’s being passive aggressive," Astrid grumbled. "I probably shouldn't have dragged everyone into this, but he ditched me when Ron and Malfoy were about to throw hands, so I'm kinda pissed off at him, too. I don't think I'm a fan of it, though."

"Throw hands?" Harry said, containing a laugh. 

"It means fight, like throw punches," Astrid giggled weakly. "Are we cool, though? I probably won't see Malfoy around much, so will you lay off?"

"I suppose," Harry said with fake reluctance. He gave her a quick hug and pulled out his herbology essay. "Do you think you could..?"

"Harry, I am four years behind. If you are asking me for help, we can only pray for you."

-

"Astrid, what the hell?" Jackson demanded as he sat down across from her at dinner the next day.

"Huh?" She asked around a large mouthful of rhubarb pie. She was reading _The Daily Prophet_ over Hermione's shoulder and hadn't noticed her brother's arrival. 

"You snitched! Remus's note was just scolding me for ignoring you!" 

"I wanted advice; I wasn't trying to snitch! And if you've admitted that you were ignoring me, we could fix it!" Astrid hissed.

"I'm allowed to be mad at you! You dragged all of us into this without asking!"

"I never said you couldn't be mad! But I'm kinda pissed off, too! After you left, Malfoy pulled his wand on us- I would've appreciated your help! I still have no idea what happened, Jack."

"Ron said some shitty things about Malfoy's parents, and both of them stopped listening to me. I thought when you came back in, Malfoy would stop," Jackson admitted. 

"No, he didn't even notice. I haven't talked to him since then, either."

"I wouldn't," Hermione chipped in suddenly. "You gave him a chance he already didn't deserve, and he wasted it."

"That's what Remus said, mostly. I just- I know I shouldn't have dragged you all into it, but I still think Malfoy can be a good person," Astrid said, pushing her now-cold dinner around with her fork. Jackson glanced at her nervously.

"Me too. Sorry for ditching you."

"Sorry for being an asshole." 

The Potter Twins shook hands over the table, almost tipping over Hermione's glass of pumpkin juice. 

"You guys are awful at apologies," Hermione laughed. Harry sat down next to Jackson, looking over his shoulder at the Ravenclaw table. 

"Oh, Harry, I never got to ask- How was your date?" Astrid asked with a worried frown. 

"A complete fiasco, thanks for asking," Harry grumbled. "She talked about her past boyfriends the whole time, and when I said we should meet up with Hermione, she blew up!"

"Oh, Harry," Hermione said with a sad smile. "You were a bit tactless."

"I mean, he was upfront with her. I'm sure it wasn't great to hear your date had plans with someone else, but it's not nice to bring up all the other boys you've dated, either," Astrid chided.

"See! How am I supposed to feel about that?" 

Hermione began to explain to Harry exactly _how_ he should have told Cho about their plans. 

"But none of that is true!" Astrid said. "Not that Harry was smooth-"

"Hey!"

"-But I'd want someone who understood I have other commitments. If I wasn't allowed to be friends with people I could be attracted to, I'd have no friends," Astrid said with a laugh. Hermione blinked at her for a minute. "You probably should have been more clear you were enjoying your date, though, Harry. It seems like you didn't do much talking."

"Oh, all right," Harry grumbled. "Jackson, do you have any input?"

"Huh?" Jackson said, swallowing a large mouthful of baked potato. 

"Jackson, as far as I know, has never had feelings for someone, and spends all of his time dedicated to strictly ignoring romance," Astrid said with a grin. 

"Seriously?" Harry rattled off several names of upperclassmen, which were all agreed to be attractive by the general Hogwarts student body

"I mean, they're all _pretty,_ but I wouldn't date them or kiss them," Jackson muttered, already tired of having the conversation. Plenty of students had already interrogated him at their old school.

Hermione listed several Muggle celebrities, too. 

"Okay, Janet Jackson is mad talented, and she's cool, but I don't like her like that. We could like, party or play Monopoly or something, though. Plus, it'd be weird because we have the same name," Jackson mused. Hermione shook her head with a smile, her brows furrowed. 

"What kind of teenage boy...," she muttered. 

"Hey, Astrid, can I talk to you?" Astrid turned around, and was greeted with a pink-cheeked Malfoy. 

"Um, not right now, Malfoy," she said, turning back to her food.

"Please? I tried to find you yesterday, but you were busy."

"No, M-"

"Buzz off, Malfoy," Harry said, scowling at him. 

"Harry, shut up," Astrid muttered. 

"Was I talking to you, Potter? Why don't you-" Malfoy sneered. 

"Fine, Malfoy!" Astrid shouted, and stomped into the entrance hall.

"Astrid, I just wanted to apologize for-"

"Did you? Because harassing me and Harry isn't a great way of showing it!" Astrid said, crossing her arms. 

"He started it! I-"

"No, he didn't! I said I didn't want to talk to you, and you kept asking! That's grounds to tell you to buzz off!" 

"I'm sorry! In Hogsmeade, I screwed up- I should've never threatened Weasley," Malfoy started again.

"Well, prove it!"

"What?" Malfoy asked, taken aback. 

" _Prove it!_ Maybe if you're nice for once, we can be friends. Don't insult my friends and family, and maybe I'll consider it."

"Okay, fine!" Malfoy said, exasperated. "Fine, but if Potter starts something-"

"You're already losing, Malfoy," Astrid warned. He scowled at her.

"All right, okay. I'll see you around, then?" Astrid nodded at him and turned back into the Great Hall.

"So? How'd it go?" Jackson asked eagerly.

"He kept apologizing, so we made a deal. If he's actually sorry, he'll be nicer. If he's not, then I'm over it. It's his choice," Astrid said. 

Whether the bet was successful was not clear to Astrid. In class, Malfoy was polite to everyone, much to the Slytherin's chagrin. He kept glancing on Astrid every time he said something nice, and she'd smile weakly, before ignoring him again. This went on for more than a month.

Outside of class, she hardly ever saw Malfoy, but got several reports from Hermione.

"He's still taking points from Gryffindor unfairly. Ginny was walking too fast, or Colin Creevey said something too nice about Harry," Hermione said, after returning from her Prefect duties. 

"Thanks, ‘Mione," Astrid said tiredly. Between the overwhelming amounts of homework, the D. A. meetings, and keeping tabs on Malfoy, she was wearing herself thin. 

At breakfast the next morning, Harry was bombarded with a dozen owls.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, pulling out a cylindrical package from the bunch. "Open it!" 

Harry ripped off the brown paper and opened the March edition of _The Quibbler._ Unrolling it revealed his smiling, sheepish face, bearing the words:

**_HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN_ **

Luna drifted over, squeezing herself between Astrid and Fred. "I asked Dad to send you a free copy. I expect these," she waved a hand at the still-fluttering owls, "are letters from readers." 

"Can we open them?" Jackson asked Harry. 

"Help yourself," Harry said, red in the face and grinning. More than half of the letters were negative, but some of them were hopeful.

Soon enough, half of the Gryffindor table was muttering about Harry's interview. 

"What's going on here?" A girlish, sickeningly sweet voice said. Umbridge was standing behind them. 

"What, is it illegal to get mail?" Fred asked loudly. He was about to stand up when Astrid kicked him under the table. 

Harry was quickly banned from Hogsmeade and given a week's worth of detention. By their first class, several large signs had gone up that announced _The Quibbler_ banned. Hermione was quite pleased, and pointed out that now, everyone seemed to be talking about it. 

In the library that afternoon, they noticed Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle huddled between the shelves.

"He's gotten worse today," Hermione whispered to Astrid. "Since Harry named all of their parents as Death Eaters." Astrid nodded sadly. As Malfoy was leaving with his gang, Astrid stood up to follow.

"What are you doing?" Hermione hissed.

"I'm just gonna talk to him. I'd be upset, too," Astrid said distractedly. She hurried out of the library, leaving her books on the table.

In the corridor, Astrid watched as Malfoy and his friends stormed away. Most students jumped out of his way. Dennis Creevey, who was chatting loudly with another second year, was not so lucky. 

"I always believed Harry! My brother is friends with-!" Colin bragged, before he was shoved into a suit of armor.

"Move, faggot!" Malfoy hissed, sneering at the kid. Crabbe and Goyle laughed loudly behind him, and they started down the hallway again.

" _Impedimenta!"_ Astrid shouted before she could think about what she was doing, and Malfoy stopped as though he hit a wall. _Levicorpus._ Malfoy's legs were swept out from under him with a sweep from her wand, and he was dangling in mid air. 

While the students had parted for Malfoy, they stared in awe as Astrid billowed down the hallway.

"You son of a bitch!" She shouted. Once she reached Malfoy, he fell to the ground, and she had him pinned to the wall, wand pressed to his cheek. "How _dare_ you! After all I've fucking done for you? You stupid, lying, motherf-"

"POTTER!" 

Astrid whirled around, still fuming. There was a small crowd of people, who parted again for Snape, who was looking more pale than usual. 

"My office, now!" 

Astrid grimaced, scowling one last time at Malfoy before following Snape to the dungeons. The walk was longer than Astrid remembered. Was she going to be expelled? She felt nauseous, thinking of Remus' disappointed face when she arrived back at Grimmauld place. 

Once they arrived, Snape shut the door with a snap, and stood behind his desk. 

"Professor, I-"

"Shut up, Potter. How did you know that spell?" He hissed, slapping his hands onto his desk. Astrid blinked at him, furrowing her brow.

"Which one?" 

"You know which one! Students don't just dangle in the sky on their own accord!" Snape shouted. 

_Oh, shit._ Astrid hadn't thought about what she was doing when she attacked Malfoy. 

"I don't know, Professor," she lied, staring at her hands. "I was just so angry- I think I lost control of my magic."

"Liar!" He yelled. The view of Harry's copy of _Advanced Potion Making_ floated to the front of her mind. "Where did you get that?" 

"Um," Astrid mumbled. "That is... from...." 

A loud, woman's screaming interrupted her thoughts. She looked up, gazing at the ceiling, where the sound was coming from. Astrid thought it might be coming from the entrance hall. 

Snape looked at her for a moment longer before sweeping out of the room. Astrid hesitated a moment before running after him. 

Sure enough, the screams were coming from the entrance hall. It was packed with students who were still pouring out from the Great Hall, where dinner was still in progress. Astrid felt faintly sick looking at the scene in the center. 

Astrid had forgotten that Professor Trelawney was publicly fired. She looked crazy, with her hair sticking up, and shawls trailing onto the ground. Two large trunks sat next to her, and she was sobbing loudly. 

Astrid turned away and saw Malfoy sulking against the wall. There was a burn on his cheek the size of a pencil eraser, and Astrid realized it was from her own wand. The ill feeling in her stomach rose again, and she dashed upstairs to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Hey, are you okay?" Fred asked once she burst through the portrait hole. It was empty since all the students were in the entrance hall, thankfully.

Astrid promptly burst into tears. Fred rushed forward, wrapping her in a tight hug. He moved her to the nearest chair, where she landed halfway in his lap. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed again and she was just hiccuping

"Malfoy called Dennis a...," Astrid paused. "Um.. I can't-," she choked, a lump rising in her throat again. Fred nodded, understanding.

"I wasn't thinking. I used a spell I wasn't supposed to, and Snape interrogated me about it." 

"Astrid, you didn't...."

"No, not an Unforgivable- I kinda wish it was,” she mumbled. “It's just not a spell we're supposed to know. I... I can't tell you."

Fred frowned, but nodded anyway. "Did you get detention?"

"No, he shouted at me a lot, though. I think he would have, but Trelawney was screaming in the entrance hall. She got sacked."

"Well, we kinda saw that coming," Fred joked, but didn't smile. Astrid glared weakly at him. 

"She was sobbing, and everyone was in the hall watching. Umbridge just stood there, smiling evilly. Malfoy was there, too. He had a mark on his face from my wand."

"Nice."

"No, _not_ nice! I feel awful- like I _did_ something awful," Astrid said, pressing her face into her hands again. “And I know I’d do it again, too.”

"You're not awful; we'd all have done the same thing," Fred pointed out. "Besides, Poppy can fix his face."

Astrid blinked at him for a second. "You call Madame Pomfrey by her first name?" She asked, amused. 

"We're close. Me 'n George are in there every other day." 

"Please don't tell me you have a secret relationship with the Healer," Astrid quipped

"Of course I wouldn't tell you; that's what makes it so scandalous," Fred said with a grin.

Astrid burst out laughing and scrubbed her face once more. "Thanks, Fred. You're not so bad, you know."

"I don't know if I should be insulted or pleased."

"Me neither. Now, come on, I left my stuff in the library," she said, pulling Fred off the chair by his hands.

When they climbed out of the portrait hole, several students were coming back from dinner. Fred and Astrid skirted around them, avoiding Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were whispering to each other. 

The library was almost empty, with a few fifth and seventh years studying over time for exams. The table that Astrid was at before was empty, and she paled. 

" _Fuck_."

"It's okay, Hermione or Jackson probably picked them up when you weren't coming back," Fred said, pulling Astrid out of the library again.

"No, uh- my planner, I- _shit_ ," Astrid swore. "Come on!" 

She sprinted back up to the common room, leaving Fred to trail behind her. 

"What the hell, Astrid?" He gasped when they reached the Fat Lady again. She didn't reply, but scoured the common room for her friends.

"Oh, Astrid, I have your books," Hermione said, pushing Astrid's book bag towards her. She dumped it onto the couch, but the planner wasn't there. 

" _Accio planner!"_ Nothing happened. Astrid swore loudly again. 

"Hey, look, maybe Jackson picked it up. He'll be back after Quidditch practice," Fred suggested. Astrid whirled around and glared at him. He put his hands up in mock surrender.

"Sorry, I just- I really need that book," Astrid breathed, collapsing on the couch. "If someone else has it..." She swallowed hard at the thought. 

"I'm sure we'll find it, Astrid. What happened after you left the library? We were- well, Harry was worried when you didn't come back," Hermione said. As Astrid explained, Dennis himself came back into the common room. 

"Astrid! Thanks for getting back at Malfoy! How d'you do that cool floating thing?" 

She paled at this. "It was not cool, and I'm not telling you. I'm lucky I didn't get a month of detention." 

"Aw, come on, please? It was wicked! He just fl-"

"Dennis, not now!" Astrid snapped. 

Hermione furrowed her brows, looking at Astrid. "What spell _did_ you use?"

"I- I can't remember. My magic got out of control because I was so mad," Astrid said. Hermione nodded understandingly. Fred frowned behind her. 

"Astrid, hey! I have it!" Jackson shouted as he jumped through the portrait hole, soaking wet. He was holding the planner, which was miraculously dry. Astrid jumped up. 

"Thank god! I'd hug you, but you're gross," Astrid said, clutching the book. 

"Well, I knew it was important, and you left your stuff. What happened?" 

Astrid collapsed back on the couch. 

"Malfoy is a little bitch and I fought him," she said shortly. "Snape yelled at me a bunch and Trelawney's screaming got me out of it."

"Yeah, I saw Malfoy on the way up here. He looked upset and had a spot on his cheek," Jackson said.

"Well, it's not our problem anymore," Fred reminded Astrid, who nodded weakly. "He made his choice."

"But he-"

"Astrid, how far are you going to go to defend him?" He asked. Astrid frowned at him. "He wasn't actually very nice when he wasn't around you, remember?"

Astrid took a deep breath."Yeah, you're right. I just- I put so much work into this, into helping him."

"I know," Fred said. "Harry's gonna come tell you he told you so," he warned. Sure enough, Harry was walking over, leaving a dejected and muddy Ron sitting on the other side of the common room.

"Hey, Astrid, I heard what happened," Harry started, and Astrid braced herself. "What'd he say?" 

She sighed, rubbing a hand over her face. "You know, Harry, I'm sure someone will tell you. I'm exhausted- sorry," she said, standing up and bidding her friends goodbye. 

When she got to the dorms, she collapsed into bed and immediately fell asleep. 


	8. Chapter 8 - Prankster in Chief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing, blood, light homophobia, romance.

Over the next month, Astrid avoided Malfoy with everything she had. She did all of her homework in the common room- which took up almost all of her time. 

She spent her only other free time in the Room of Requirement, with Fred and George in their club, or in the D.A.

"Harry, hold on a second," Astrid whispered, pulling her cousin aside. "Marietta Edgecombe needs to go."

"What? Cho's friend? But we've finally made up- I can't just-!"

"Harry, trust me, she will tell Umbridge and get everyone in trouble. I... I can't explain it. Please, just do it!" Astrid urged. Harry frowned at her, but agreed. 

At the next meeting, Marietta wasn't there. 

"Keep in mind, producing a Patronus while you're not in danger is very different than when you're confronted with a dementor!" 

"Harry, look!" Jackson shouted, as a shining silver eagle circled the chandelier. 

"That's great, Jackson! Just remember, it's not quite the same as-" 

"Harry, we know, it's way harder when there's a dementor," Astrid chided, watching her gleaming blackbird flit around the Room. "It's hard magic, dude. Be proud!" 

The door to the Room of Requirement open and closed again, but it seemed like nobody entered. Astrid's eyes widened, and she made eye contact with Jackson.

"It didn't work!" She hissed, looking around for Cho and jogging up to her. "Did you tell Marietta about this meeting?" 

Cho gaped at her, her gleaming swan disappearing. "I- I don't-"

"Cho! Did you or didn't you!"

"Yes! But I- I didn't think-"

"Well, it doesn't matter now!  _ Shit _ , we need to run!" Astrid whirled around to see Harry seizing Dobby around the middle. 

"What's happened, Dobby?" He asked. 

"Harry, there's no time- Umbridge is coming. Right, Dobby?" Jackson interrogated. Dobby nodded, bursting into tears. 

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?" Harry shouted. "RUN!" 

Once she was out the door, Astrid had already lost anyone she knew. Glancing left and right, everyone was moving so fast they vanished before she could see more than the flick of their robes. Sprinting down the empty corridor, she realized that she had no idea where Umbridge was. 

Astrid gasped as the front of her robes were seized, and she was yanked into a door to her right, but not before smacking her face into the door frame. A hand was placed over her mouth for a moment, and she panicked.

"Sh, it's me," the voice whispered.

"Fred!" Astrid turned around and squinted in the darkness. "You scared the shit out of me," she hissed. She pinched the bridge of her nose where there was a stream of blood. "Hold on," she said thickly.

" _ Muffliato. Colloportus." _

"What was the first one?" Fred whispered.

"If someone comes by, there will be a quiet, unidentifiable buzzing," Astrid recited. She blinked at Fred for a few seconds. "Well, now what? What is the next step of your ingenious plan?"

"Didn't get that far," Fred confessed. "Sorry about your nose. I have nothing to fix it, either."

Astrid glared weakly at him. "Last time someone got a bloody nose, didn't you make it worse?" 

"Okay, now they're more clearly labelled!" Fred complained with a quiet laugh. 

"Wait, shush..." Astrid whispered, pressing her ear to the door. Someone shouted and there was a loud clattering sound, followed by loud laughter.

"Trip Jinx, Potter!"

Astrid's eyes widened. "It's Malfoy!" Her eyes set and she drew out her wand, pointing it at the door once more. 

"Astrid, no! You'll get caught!" Fred hissed, pulling Astrid away from the door. The sound of Umbridge's clicking shoes were already echoing in the hallway. Astrid froze in Fred's arms.

"It's him!" She cried. "Excellent, Draco, excellent. Fifty points to Slytherin! I'll take him from here... Stand up, Potter!" Umbridge directed Malfoy down the corridor again, and led Harry in the opposite direction. 

"They're gone," Fred whispered. Astrid relaxed, pocketing her wand again. "Come on, the coast is probably clear." 

"It's not a good time to make a coming-out-of-the-closet joke, is it?" Astrid mumbled, giving Fred a small smile.

"You're insane. It's  _ always  _ a good time to make a coming-out-of-the-closet joke," Fred said with an echoing laugh. Astrid shushed him, and they hurried back to the common room together. 

"Oh thank god, you guys made it!" Hermione cried, hugging Astrid quickly. "Where's Harry? What happened to your face?" Astrid felt her nose again, and though it had stopped bleeding, it was still sticky. 

"Guilty," Fred raised his hand with a sheepish grin. Astrid rolled her eyes. 

"Smacked a door frame. Umbridge's got Harry," she said, scrubbing her upper lip. "Where's Jackson?"

"Not back yet," Hermione replied. Astrid swore loudly. 

"I'm sure he's fine," Fred said, squeezing her hand. She smiled weakly at him and nodded. 

After a few minutes of pacing from Astrid (and one angry kick to the foot of an armchair), Jackson and Harry returned.

The next day, Dumbledore was gone, and Umbridge was headmistress. The student body was chatting throughout breakfast about it. 

"I'm sure she's so proud," Hermione spat, stabbing a scrambled egg viciously. "That vile, stupid, power-crazy old-"

"Come on now, Granger, do you  _ really  _ wanna finish that sentence?" Malfoy had come up behind her, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Astrid glanced at him before returning to her borrowed copy of the Prophet to Hermione.

"Afraid I'm going to have to dock some points!" He said, face alight with malice. "Let's see, ten from Granger for being rude about our new headmistress; five from Potter because I don't like him; Weasley, you lose five since your shirt is untucked. Oh, and another ten from Grander from being a Mudblood. You, Potter-" he continued, jutting his chin out at Astrid "Twenty for being a queer." He did not continue to Jackson, who'd kept his head down.

Fred and George leapt up from their seats, and Ginny scowled, but Astrid only stared at Malfoy. 

"What the hell, Malfoy?"

"You heard me. Should I dock another five because you can't understand the English language?" He sneered. 

"If you want," she said, picking at her breakfast. Malfoy blinked at her, taking a few steps back and bumping into Crabbe and Goyle. 

"Forget it, Potter," he spat. "Let's go!" He strode away, laughing loudly. 

"Sit down, you idiots," Astrid mumbled to Fred and George, who were still scowling at Malfoy. "He's paying me back from before. I was never docked points, and it probably should have been fifty." 

Astrid went back to reading Hermione's copy of  _ The Daily Prophet _ . There was nothing of value, but she didn't want to meet Ron or Hermione's stares.

The Inquisitorial Squad continued to take points from all Houses that weren't Slytherin. On the way to lunch, Astrid stood in front of the hourglasses, staring at the almost-empty Gryffindor container. 

"Noticed?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, I figured. I mean there's nothing we can do about it, anyway," Astrid mumbled, frowning as Ravenclaw lost several dozen points.

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," Fred said with a mischievous grin. "Come on." He led Astrid behind a tapestry that held a hidden passageway. It held a large pile of boxes, all labelled  _ Weasleys' Wildfire Whiz-Bangs. _

"Oh my god," Astrid breathed. 

"We're gonna light them while everyone's at lunch," George explained. 

"Good plan- Umbridge is interrogating Harry upstairs right now," Astrid said. 

Once they pushed the mountain of fireworks into the center of the corridor, Fred turned to Astrid. 

"Care to do the honors?"

Astrid grinned eagerly and pointed her wand at the nearest fuse. Immediately, purple and blue sparks flew from it, which lit several other boxes. 

They ran down the hallway and rounded a corner, peering around it to see the phenomenon.

_ BOOM! _

A few paintings fell off their hinges, causing their inhabitants to cry out, and a nearby suit of armour crashed to the ground. 

Several glittering dragons roared down the corridor, composed of green and gold sparks and emitting fiery blasts and bangs. Spinning Catherine wheels as tall as Astrid was were zooming through the air, spewing pink fire everywhere. 

"I especially like the sparklers writing swear words- it's very elegant," Astrid commented, laughing into her hand. 

"Thanks, they were very inspired," Fred said with a wink. "Ooh, there she is." He pointed past the display, where Umbridge stood, pale and shaking, with Filch staring next to her. A Catherine wheel whizzed towards them. Both screamed and ducked as it soared into the entranced hall.

" _ Stupefy!"  _ Umbridge shrieked. A red burst of light shot from the end of her wand and hit one of the rockets. Instead of freezing, it exploded with such force it blasted a small hole in the nearest wall.

"Wait to see what happens when she tries Vanishing them," George whispered, trying to contain his laughs. 

Harry came down the stairs and found them hiding around their corner. 

"Impressive," he said quietly with a grin. "You'll put Filibuster out of business in no time." 

"Cheers," George said, giving Harry a high five. 

By the time classes were over that afternoon, the fireworks had spread to almost every classroom in the castle. When they arrived back in the common room, Fred and George were hailed heroes. 

Once they had finished taking orders from the other students, Hermione and Astrid came up to congratulate them.

"They were quite clever," Hermione said. "Impressive bit of magic."

"Thanks," said George, looking both surprised and pleased. He tried to sell Hermione a box, but she rolled her eyes. 

Astrid sat on the couch, feeling light-hearted and happier than she had in a long time. Fred sat next to her.

"Are you guys really leaving?" She asked quietly. Fred blinked at her for a moment. 

"How d'you find out?" He muttered.

"You said this morning you didn't care about your N.E.W.T.s. If I remember correctly, you said you'd walk out right now if you weren't gonna do your bit for Dumbledore."

"Merlin," Fred whispered, and Astrid laughed at him. He looked at her again and nodded. "Yeah. We have one last thing to pull off." 

"All right. You found a place to run your shop?"

"Oh, yeah, that's been long settled," Fred said with a grin. "If it goes well, we might find a place in Hogsmeade."

"At least you'll be closer. I've gotten used to you being around all the time. Who's going to make me laugh when Harry's being insufferable?"

"You can always laugh at Ron- that's what me and George do," he pointed out. Sure enough, in an attempt to shoo away Hermione's cat, Ron knocked over his ink bottle all over his essay.

"That's true," Astrid said with a giggle. "But it's not the same and you know it." 

Fred nodded solemnly. "I know. I'll write, if you want," he suggested. 

"I didn't know you were literate," she quipped, hiding a smile behind her hand. 

"Wow, Astrid!" He laughed, pulling the hood of Astrid's robes over her head and poking her in the sides. 

Astrid pulled her hood off as she burst into laughter. "Ha ha, I changed my mind!" She cried, swatting at his hand. "I'm glad you're going," she giggled quietly.

"You don't mean that," Fred said, eyes shining with mirth. Astrid shook her head, still laughing softly. 

"Astrid, come on," Hermione said from behind them. They both jumped. "If you miss another Transfiguration assignment, you'll get detention." 

Astrid smiled sadly at Fred. "See you later?" He nodded, waving as she stood up to join Hermione and Ron, who was still cleaning up his ink spill.

-

Next week saw Astrid sat in front of Professor McGonagall's desk, frowning at her lap. There was a series of pamphlets propped up on the desk, all of which were very intimidating. 

"So, Miss Potter, this meeting was arranged to so we could talk over any career ideas you might have, so we can help you decide which subjects you should continue into your sixth and seventh years," Professor McGonagall said. "Do you know what you would like to be doing after you leave Hogwarts?"

"Um," Astrid started, picking at the run in her tights. "I have no idea. I've only been here since January- I don't think I'll feel ready to graduate after my seventh year," she confessed. 

"Miss Potter, I assure you, you and your brother have excelled impressively in your short time here at Hogwarts. I understand that you attended a Muggle school until you arrived here, is that correct?" 

Astrid swallowed hard, glancing at Umbridge, who was sat behind Professor McGonagall. She was scribbling fiercely on her clipboard. Astrid nodded.

"What were you planning on studying after that?" 

"Um, I was a little all over the place," Astrid muttered. "I've thought about medicine, psychology, and teaching, mostly." 

Umbridge gave the smallest of coughs, staring at the back of Professor McGonagall's head. 

"It sounds like being a Healer would be the best fit for you. You will need at least five N.E.W.T.s, and nothing under 'Exceeds Expectations.' After Hogwarts, you will have to continue your education at St. Mungo's," Professor McGonagall explained, pushing a pamphlet into Astrid's hands.

Umbridge coughed again, louder this time. 

_ "Yes, Dolores?"  _ Professor McGonagall said, scowling at the offender. 

"Do you think it's wise, Minerva, to advise Miss Potter to pursue something based on a  _ Muggle _ interest?" Umbridge asked with a sickeningly sweet smile. 

"Yes, I do," she said shortly, before turning back to Astrid. "You need to take Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms, and Defence Against the Dark Arts. Now, Professor Snape does not take students who get less than an 'Outstanding' in their O.W.L., and this is not something he will budge. As for the other professors- I believe if you put in two years of hard work, you will have caught up in no time."

" _ Ahem _ ," Umbridge started again. "As for Defense Against the Dark Arts- as I am the professor of that  _ particular  _ subject, I would have to disagree. All the Potters have been disruptive in my class, and I would not be so keen in accepting Miss Potter into my N.E.W.T. class. Especially with her involvement in... club activities," Umbridge simpered.

"Thank you, Dolores," Professor McGonagall said, dismissing her tangent. "Questions, Potter?" Astrid shook her head quickly, and dashed out of the room before Umbridge could say anything else. 

Later that day, Astrid found herself surrounded by stacks of books, hoping to figure out how to get an 'Outstanding' in Potions in two month's time. Jackson, Ron, and Ginny were all stuck in Quidditch practice, Harry was in his own career advice meeting, and Hermione was speaking with her Ancient Runes professor about extra credit. 

"Fancy seeing you here," someone whispered from the other side of the table, obscured by a teetering pile of books. 

"Fred, we're in the library," Astrid said, barely containing a grin. She pushed the stack aside. "I'm in here almost every day. Not all of us can blow off exams, you know."

"Well, I wanted to catch you before we set off our plan," Fred said, smiling weakly at Astrid.

"You're leaving today, aren't you?" 

Fred nodded, not meeting her eyes. "Harry needs a diversion, and we've got everything set." He paused, tapping his fingers on the desk. It seemed like he was debating something he wasn't sure he wanted to say. Astrid waited a few more seconds before she spoke up.

"Come on, you doofus," she said, dragging Fred out of the library and into an empty classroom. "Now, what were you gonna s-mmph!"

Once the door had closed, Fred kissed her soundly on the lips. At first surprised, Astrid gasped, inhaling the scent of his cologne and, although faint, gunpowder. 

"That," Fred paused, "is what I wanted to say." 

"You have impeccable timing," Astrid laughed, pulling Fred closer. "You're going to be here for, what, another thirty minutes?" 

He didn't reply, but wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her deeper. Astrid's mind went pleasantly blank for a moment, feeling warmth spread from her chest to the tips of her fingers, before she pulled away.

"Fred, wait," she started, and his face fell. "Wait, no, I just want to talk for a second. You're leaving soon, and you'll probably join the Order, right?" Fred nodded, cheeks still pink. 

"Yeah, I-um-," he paused, clearing his throat. "I wanted to tell you before we left; I felt like it would be too late."

"Well, what was your plan?"

"I would profess my undying love for you and we were going to live happily ever after," Fred said. Astrid smiled, but shook her head. 

"No, I got that part," she laughed. "More like, are you going to wait for me while I finish school? Because I could totally picture you and George out there in the real world, bangin' babes left and right," Astrid joked, sitting on top of a desk.

Fred burst out laughing, leaning back again the wall behind him. "Firstly, George is  _ unconditionally _ gay, so he is not 'bangin' babes', as you said."

"Guys can also be babes, Fred, it's a gender-neutral term!"

"Okay, well, he might be then. And, I dunno, if it's fine with you, I'm okay with waiting for you," Fred said sheepishly. 

"As long as you come to Hogsmeade on the weekends, I suppose it's okay," Astrid said with a grin. They leaned in again, bumping noses before their lips met again.

Almost immediately, there was a loud pounding on the door. 

"Ah, that'll be George," Fred recalled, pulling away. "It's time." 

Fred left the classroom, leaving Astrid pink-cheeked and with a fluttering feeling in her stomach. After he'd gone, she ran all the way to the Charms corridor, where she found Hermione and Ginny.

"Where've you been?" Hermione asked, scanning Astrid's face. 

"The library," Astrid breathed, holding the stitch in her side. 

"Why are you red-faced?" 

"We've been over this, Hermione," Astrid said nervously, glancing at Ginny. "I sprinted here." 

Hermione nodded, but looked unconvinced. Before she could go on, there was a loud splashing sound, and several shouts of panic. 

By the time they reached the entrance hall, Fred and George had already mounted their broomsticks, and were announcing their store location in Diagon Alley. 

"Give her hell from us, Peeves," Fred said, glancing around the crowd below. As Peeves was saluting, Astrid caught Fred's eye, and he winked at her. 

Then the Weasley Twins wheeled around, and, to enormous applause, took off into the dying sunlight. 


	9. Chapter 9 - The Department of Mysteries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Graphic descriptions of violence, mention of death, description of injury. Swearing as usual

May turned to June faster than anyone expected, and exams were upon them before they knew it. Astrid was so focused on passing her O.W.L.s that she'd forgotten what she was supposed to be preparing for. 

"Astrid, are you ready?" Jackson asked as they lined up for their History of Magic final.

"No," she grumbled. "History has always been my worst subject, and Goblin names are way harder to memorize than-"

"What? No, Harry has his vision at the end of this exam," he whispered urgently. "Did you forget?"

"Shit! I- I was just so worried about failing; there was so much to study, I just-!" She stammered, eyes widening. "Fuck, okay, we got this. We need to convince him not to go, remember?" 

Jackson nodded as the doors to the Great Hall opened, revealing a dozen rows of writing desks.

Astrid knew the moment she sat down she would flunk the exam; she kept glancing at Harry, two seats ahead of her, waiting for him to collapse. She saw him doze off for a few minutes and she gripped her quill so tightly that she bent the feathers. When Harry slid off his chair and onto the stone floor, it was all she could do to keep from jumping out of her seat.

"Oh, dear!" The examiner cried, rushing up to Harry as fast as his old legs could go. He ushered Harry out into the entrance hall and shut the door loudly.

No one in the exam room dared speak, but they all glanced around nervously, Harry's shouts still ringing unpleasantly in their ears. Astrid made eye contact with her brother, who gave a tiny nod.

The last ten minutes of the exam were useless- nobody wrote anything on their test papers. Once the hourglass ran out, everyone dashed out of the hall with impressive speed.

"The hospital wing-" Astrid said to Jackson, who nodded, and they sprinted up several staircases, hoping to catch Harry on his way back to the common room.

"Come with me," Harry said the moment he saw them. Before either of them could reply, he ran off again, and they were left to trail behind him. When they met up with Ron and Hermione, Harry pulled them all into an empty classroom.

"Harry, are you ill?" Hermione started, breathing heavily. "What happened- was it your scar?"

"Voldemort's got Sirius," Harry blurted.

" _What?"_

"How do you know?"

"Saw it- Just now, when I fell asleep in the exam," he explained. "Row ninety-seven in the Department of Mysteries. He's trying to make Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from there. He's gonna kill him-"

"No, he won't," Jackson said firmly. "He hasn't got Sirius, it's impossible!. He'd have to break into the safe house, and there's no way that Dumbledore let it slip!"

"But I saw him-!"

"That's exactly what Occlumency was supposed to prevent, Harry!" Astrid insisted. "This is a trap!"

"I know they have him. I know it." Harry said it so confidently that Astrid almost believed him. Astrid and Jackson (well, Astrid was _glaring_ ) stared at Harry, but every scenario that ran through their head ended with Harry leaving for the Ministry without them.

"I'm conceding because you need our help, _not_ because you're right," Astrid grumbled.

True to how they remembered the story, Sirius was not seen in Grimmauld place when Harry used Umbridge's fire, and the Inquisitorial Squad captured his lookouts.

Astrid tried very hard to kick Pansy Parkinson in the knee when she was caught. Pansy seemed to be especially pleased when she shoved Astrid to the floor of Umbridge's office and shortly had her arms pinned behind her back. The sound of Malfoys jeering laughter left Astrid feeling a little sick to her stomach.

It was a relief when Hermione led Umbridge and Harry out onto the grounds. It seemed- although Pureblood- the Inquisitorial Squad were fans of physical violence rather than magical power. Although Pansy held Astrid's upper arms behind her back, she could still reach into the waistband of her jeans for her wand.

" _Stupefy!"_ Pansy crumpled to the pink-carpeted floors, soon followed by Millicent Bulstrode. Several bat's emerged from Malfoy's nose, attacking him, and Ron disarmed Goyle. Jackson took down his captor with a swift elbow to the gut, and a full-body bind.

"Nice, Neville!" Astrid said, giving him a high five after a successful jinx. Ron collected Harry and Hermione's wands and they set off to the Forbidden Forest.

When they arrived, several Thestrals were already gathering around them, smelling the Giant's blood that covered Harry and Hermione. Once Harry began arguing about who was going to the Ministry, Astrid rolled her eyes.

"Save it- we're coming. Look, there's enough for all of us," she pointed out, stroking the nose of the nearest Thestral.

Once they took off, Astrid appreciated the fact that she could see the flying horses. If she was soaring through the night on an invisible creature, she was sure she'd have been sick. Astrid turned to glance at the entourage, almost laughing out loud and Ron's terrified face.

The Thestrals touched down smoothly, trotting along in the alleyway Harry had directed them down. The fit into the battered telephone box was near impossible, and Ron had to bend his arm bizarrely to reach the receiver.

"He's not here, Harry," Astrid hissed when they reached the Atrium. The room was the size of a shopping plaza, but was eerily silent.

"Well, he wasn't in Grimmauld Place," he whispered back, and led them to the elevators. "Maybe someone should stay here, as a lookout."

"Yeah? And how the hell are we gonna tell you someone's coming?" Ginny asked, eyebrows raised.

"We're coming with you," Neville said, his round face set, determined. Harry hesitated, before he faced the grilles of the elevator, which opened with an echoing clang.

When they arrived on the correct floor, they gazed at the plain black door at the end of the hallway. Harry stopped again, hand inches from pushing it open.

"You could-"

"No, Harry," Jackson said, and pushed the door open himself. They marched into a large, circular room, with a dozen more handle-less black doors.

"Someone shut-"

"No one shut the door," Astrid interrupted. "We'll never know which one it was."

Harry frowned, glancing back at his cousins, before turning forward again. "I-this isn't the same," he muttered.

"What do you mean? You said you knew how to get there," Ron said, eyebrows furrowed with skepticism.

"I usually go through the door at the end of the corridor - that's this one - and then I go through another door into a room that kind of... glitters. I'll know it when I see it. We should try a few doors," Harry explained, and strode towards the door facing him. The moment he put his hand on the door, it opened.

The room was dimly lit and rectangular, and held a great stone pit some twenty feet below them. In the center, there was a large stone archway, which looked as if it was so ancient it should not have been standing.

"This isn't it, Harry," Astrid hissed, grabbing at Harry's sleeve, but he'd already jumped down onto a bench. "Harry!" 

"Who's there?" he asked, scrambling down the pews towards the veil. He gazed at it, seemingly entranced.

"Harry!" Jackson's voice echoed across the room, but if Harry heard it, he didn't react.

Jackson jumped down, much faster than Harry, who'd moved as if he wasn't meaning to. Jackson grabbed Harry by the forearm and yanked him back up the stairs.

"Let's go," Harry said airily, glancing up at his friends. Astrid rolled her eyes, but turned back into the circular room. The door they'd came through had snapped shut, so they had no clue which one it was.

" _Flagrate!"_ Hermione said and drew an X with her wand.

The next room they tried was far darker than the last room and held a large tank that housed floating, pearlescent orbs.

"What is that?" Harry whispered. Luna perked up excitedly.

"Aquavirius maggots! Dad said that the-"

"Brains," Astrid breathed. They were much more sinister than she'd imagined, drifting back and forth in the slimy substance. She shuddered and took a deep breath. "This is wrong. Let's go back."

No one objected this time, and they hurried through the door again.

Harry pushed on the next door the moment after the room had stopped spinning, getting impatient. "This is it!"

The room was filled with glittering lights, all of them twinkling blindingly. Constant, busy ticking filled the place, and Astrid's heart raced faster to keep up with it.

Harry led them eagerly into the next room, which was filled with shelves of dusty glass orbs. They gleamed dully from the candle brackets that seemed to be always lit.

"See, he's not here," Astrid breathed, creeping slowly behind Harry.

"Yeah, it's row ninety-seven," Harry pointed out, and they continued down the dusty shelves. Astrid rolled her eyes again. They were at row fifty-three and ambling to the next. Astrid listened hard for any sound, but it seemed like her heartbeat would drown out anything she could have heard.

"Ninety-seven!" Whispered Neville, who was pointing at the gleaming number embossed onto the shelf.

"He's right down on the end," Harry said, and led them forward. "He should be here...," Harry said thickly, lighting his wand. "Anywhere, around...." He waved his wand wildly, searching the floor.

"Harry," Hermione whispered.

"What?" He spat, shining his wand in her eyes as he whipped around.

"I don't think he's here," she breathed. It seemed like she hoped that if she was quiet enough, he wouldn't hear her.

"Have you seen this?" Ron asked, a little too loud for Astrid's taste. Harry hurried to Ron's side, hoping for a clue to Sirius' whereabouts.

Astrid and Jackson stayed on the outskirts of the group, searching the darkness for the Death Eaters they knew would come. Knowing what to look for, Astrid saw the blue light glinting off a black mask.

"Harry, we need to leave, now. Sirius is not here," Astrid said firmly, not taking her eyes off the Death Eater in front of her.

"But my name is on this," Harry pointed out, reaching for the prophecy.

"I promise I will explain when we get back. Leave the prophecy."

"Prophecy? About me?"

"Yes. You are the only one who can touch it, other than Voldemort," Astrid spluttered, speaking far faster than usual. "That's why he wanted you to come."

"But if it's about me, then I wanna hear it!" Harry insisted, and Astrid heard a clinking noise. She swore to herself as the Death Eater emerged from the shadows. The others noticed several more coming out of the darkness, and moved closer to Harry, who was examining the glass orb.

"Very good, Potter. Now turn around, nice and easy, and hand that right to me," a cold, drawling voice said.

Almost immediately, the other Death Eaters flew forwards, and a dozen wands were pointed at them. Astrid's heart plummeted into her stomach, and she shivered.

"Hand it over," repeated the voice, which sounded so familiar to Astrid.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded.

Half of the Death Eaters cackled loudly. One, a woman's voice, cackled far louder than the others. "The Dark Lord knows!" She cried triumphantly.

"He always does," the first one said dismissively, and turned back to Harry. "Now, the prophecy, Potter!"

"I want to know where Sirius is!" Harry shouted again. Astrid fought the urge to smack Harry and kept her wand pointed at the nearest Death Eater, who laughed loudly.

"Maybe he needs some persuasion," the woman said with a sinister smile. She stepped out of the darkness, wearing no mask or hood. Bellatrix Lestrange looked even more fanatical in person. Her skin glowed a feverish yellow, and her time in prison had hollowed her face, making it gaunt and skull-like. "It looks like he's brought his cousins," she pointed out, drawing her wand at Astrid, who was closest.

Jackson stepped forward, and Astrid felt more than saw Neville edge in front of her.

"You'll have to smash this if you want to attack any of us," Harry said, holding the prophecy in plain sight of the Death Eaters. "Don't think your boss will be too pleased if you come back without it, will he?”

Bellatrix took another small step forward, but said nothing. Harry kept talking, but Astrid tuned it out, waiting for a command. She was running over the plan. _Stop Bellatrix, save Sirius; stop Bellatrix, save Sirius._

"DO NOT ATTACK! WE NEED THE PROPHECY!" The first Death Eater shouted, shaking Astrid from her trance.and While the two Death Eaters continued their bickering, Harry shouted.

"NOW!"

Seven voices shouted " _REDUCTO!"_ The curses flew in all different directions, several of them blasting shelves over. A few hundred prophecies smashed, voices echoing from long-dead Seers, and there were several enormous crashing sounds.

"RUN!" Harry yelled, as several more prophecies crashed to the ground. Astrid sprinted after Jackson, who'd already taken off, one arm over his head to block the falling glass. Astrid couldn’t think- her thoughts were drowned out by raining prophecies and cries of pain.

She saw the dark cloud of a Death Eater flying several shelves ahead of her, about to collide with Jackson.

" _Stupefy!"_ She shouted, and he blasted backwards with a jet of red light. She glimpsed long blonde hair before it disappeared into a doorway.

" _Impedimenta!"_ Astrid gasped as she flew through the door after Jackson, who snapped it shut.

" _Colloportus,"_ he said, and the door shut with an odd splatting noise.

Looking around, she realized they were in the brain room, and Luna was staring wistfully into the tank. "Don't touch those," Astrid said, looking for another door out. "There!" She pointed, and the three of them ran.

The door behind them swung open, and several mask-less Death Eaters burst through. _Lucius Malfoy!_ Astrid thought stupidly.

" _Wingardium Leviosa!_ " Jackson shouted, pointing his wand at a brain, which floated into the air. He jabbed his wand, and it flew into Malfoy.

"Jackson, move!" Astrid cried, tugging on Jackson's sleeve. He was still watching the brain trying to suffocate Malfoy.

They dashed into the next room and kept running. Ticking filled Astrid's mind again, and her eyes flicked wildly over the room. "Harry should be here, with Hermione and Neville," she gasped.

She almost tripped over the body of a Death Eater, who was in a full-body bind.

"HARRY! NEVILLE!" She shouted, even though Luna tried to shush her. Harry stood up, several tables over.

"Astrid! Are you guys-"

"Fine, we're all fine," Astrid reassured him. Harry's eyes were watery, and Neville's nose was spewing blood spectacularly.

" _Episkey!"_ Astrid said, pointing her wand at Neville's nose.

"Hermione's hurt, you guys should take her up-"

"No, Harry," Jackson muttered. "We're staying together. Come on, Ron and Ginny should be this way."

Harry blinked at him before helping Neville support Hermione.

The door lead into the circular room, where Hermione's red X's had disappeared from the doors. Once the room stopped spinning, Ron burst through a door on the right, laughing madly.

"Harry!" He giggled, clinging onto the front of Harry's robes. Astrid ignored him, ducking though the door he'd come out of.

" _Stupefy!"_ She shouted at the final Death Eater. It was a completely dark room, with huge, glowing planets hanging in space. "Ginny? Are you okay?"

She heard a stuttering gasp coming from underneath one of the planets, which Astrid noticed had a large chunk missing from it. Ginny was clutching her ankle and looked quite a bit paler than usual.

Astrid stooped down, putting an arm around Ginny's waist. Hobbling slightly, they hurried back into the circular room.

"Without Luna, she didn't make it back in here," Astrid muttered to Jackson, who nodded. Astrid helped Ginny into a sitting position against the wall.

"Luna?" Ron asked loudly. "Ha ha, I know Luna! Loony Lovegood, Loony Lovegood!" He chanted with a giggle.

"Her ankle's broken, but I don't wanna try to fix it here," Astrid explained, pulling her robes off and examining her Ginny's leg. " _Diffindo,"_ she whispered, slicing the sleeves off, and wrapping them tightly around Ginny's wound. "That should stop the bleeding, at least."

"We've gotta get out of here," Harry said firmly. "Luna, can you help Ginny?"

"Yes," she said, sticking her wand behind her ear for safekeeping, and helping Ginny to a standing position.

"I've- I've got it!" Ginny stammered, retracting her arm from Luna's shoulders, but in the next moment, collapsing back into her.

"What if we open all the doors at once?" Astrid asked, opening the one next to the Space Chamber. Before she even got to look, another door across the room burst open, and three Death Eaters leapt through, led by Bellatrix.

"There they are!" She cackled. " _Expulso!_ " In a blast of blue light, Ron was blasted through the door that Astrid had just opened.

Stunning Spells flashed across the room, and Harry led the rest of them after Ron.

" _Colloportus!_ " Jackson shouted at the door they'd came through, and three bodies slammed into the other side.

"Fuck!" Astrid said loudly. Running through the door, Neville had already tripped down a few steps, and Hermione had fallen into one of the pews.

They were in the Death Chamber.

The whole room was ringing with laughter. There were far too many entrances to seal, and five Death Eaters had already gotten in either way-

"Your time is up, Potter!" Lucius shouted. He was covered in horrid, dark welts due to the brain that Jackson had shot at him, and he was looking even paler, if possible. "You're outnumbered!" 

Astrid glanced around. Ginny had passed out, and the flying Stunning Spells had gotten Luna in the previous room. Jackson had crouched underneath a bench, unseen by the Death Eaters.

"You're alone!" Lucius sneered, reminding Astrid of Draco. She swallowed hard.

"No, he's not," she said, her voice much steadier than she expected.

"Oh, I have heard about this one," Lucius said gleefully. "Another blood traitor! Yes, Draco has told me a lot about _you,"_ he scoffed.

Harry stiffened next to her, but she didn't break eye contact with Lucius.

"What a wonderful example! Let's see if you'll give up the prophecy after this!" Lucius threatened, raising his wand.

" _Expelliarmus!"_ Jackson shouted, leaping up from his bench.

Startled, Lucius did not have time to defect, and his wand flew out of his hands. "Wha-?"

" _Stupefy!"_ Astrid shouted, pointing her wand at Bellatrix, who deflected it easily. Spells were bouncing off the walls now; the other Death Eaters joined in, and Lucius went in search for his wand.

" _Petrificus Totalus!"_ Jackson sent a well-aimed spell at Lucius, whose arms and legs snapped together, and he rocked over backwards.

They were still outnumbered, four-to-three, and it showed.

" _Protego!"_ Astrid shouted, again and again. It seemed as if the Death Eaters were closing in, corning them against their injured friends. One curse knocked Astrid forcefully into the wall, and her vision faded for a moment.

" _Cruc-!"_ Bellatrix was cut off by a burst of red light from above them. A door flew open and five more blurry people ran into the room, already firing spells. Astrid blinked blearily before standing up with a strength she didn't have.

Astrid looked for Jackson, but he had disappeared already. She ran down the stairs against her better judgment, sending Stunning Spells at the masses of black as fast as she could. Harry had ran the opposite direction.

Remus ran up to her, pushing her back up the stairs.

"Go! Grab the others and RUN!" He shouted. "Where's Jackson?"

"I don't know, I- Tonks!" Astrid gasped as Bellatrix overcame her, and Tonks tumbled down several benches. She didn't have time to draw her wand, watching as Jackson confronted her.

Remus wheeled around eyes widening as he took in the scene. Ringing filled Astrid's ears, not unlike the ticking of Time she’d heard so many hours ago- so she saw rather than heard Bellatrix's spell.

She made a slicing motion with her wand, mouthing something Astrid couldn't read, and Jackson crumpled to the ground. Remus turned, wand pointed at Bellatrix with an expression that Astrid didn't recognize, but she paid no more attention.

"JACKSON!" She shouted, running down the stairs. She grabbed his wrist, trying to feel a pulse, but her heart was beating so fiercely that she couldn't tell.

He was bleeding heavily from his left leg and had been knocked unconscious from the force of his fall, but he was breathing.

It was then that Astrid noticed Sirius, dueling alongside Remus. Most of the Death Eaters had been restrained or Stunned by now, and Astrid watched as Dumbledore swept around the room, as if performing a simple chore. When he'd gotten there, she had no idea.

 _"Stupefy!"_ Sirius shouted, and Bellatrix fell, unmoving, to the ground. Astrid gasped a sigh of relief. _Sirius lived._

"Is he okay?" Remus asked, kneeling next to Astrid.

"I- he's hurt, but he's alive," she breathed.

The next few hours were a blur. Remus supported Jackson back through Dumbledore's fireplace, and Astrid followed them to the hospital wing, mind blank.

Once Remus set Jackson on the first bed, he turned to Astrid. "What happened?"

Astrid's eyes slid from Jackson to him, and she blinked for a few moments. "Harry saw that Voldemort had Sirius, and there was no convincing him not to go," she said shortly.

Astrid watched as the others came in, bruised and battered. Harry wasn't among them. Neville was being examined by Madame Pomfrey, who made a sound of approval.

"Well, it's not broken! In fact, it looks freshly healed! Go ahead and clean up, then, dear," she said, patting Neville fondly on the shoulders.

She moved on to Ginny, who had her eyes screwed shut. "Astrid wrapped it," she grunted, gripping the sheets so tightly that her knuckles were white. Madame Pomfrey raised her eyebrows.

"Well, it worked- the bleeding stopped," she said, gingerly removing the wrappings. "Were you walking on this?"

Ginny nodded. "It didn't hurt that much after she fixed it, but-" she gasped as the Healer put pressure on her injury, "it hurts like hell now."

"We'll excuse the language for now," Madame Pomfrey said tiredly. With a flick of her wand, Ginny's ankle reset, and Ginny blinked.

Next, she bustled up to Jackson's bed, swallowing hard. "You two should get some rest, this will not be pretty," she warned, and drew the curtains around his bed.

Astrid sniffed, turning away. She sank slowly into the bed next to Jackson's and closed her eyes.

"You should get some sleep," Remus said quietly. "We'll all still be here when you wake up tomorrow."

She nodded, and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.


	10. Chapter 10 - Going Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Description of injury, swearing, mention of character death

"- said he'll be fine?"

Astrid did not open her eyes yet. Her head ached, and her bed was soft and warm.

"Yes, and I've spoken with the Healers at St. Mungo's- they said we can move him in a few days," a woman said- Madame Pomfrey, Astrid guessed.

"And everyone else is well?" A man spoke, voice gravely from age.

"Miss Granger will have to be here for a few more weeks, but the other students are perfectly fine."

"Thank you, Poppy," the man said.

"Of course, Albus. I just wish there was something more I could do for Jackson."

Astrid's eyes flew open. She sat up, about to wrench open the curtain surrounding her brother's bed when she hesitated.

"You've done everything you could. Jackson will be all right; St. Mungo's has an excellent program for rehabilitation."

Astrid swallowed hard as the memory of her brother's fall ran through her mind several times over. Although fuzzy, she remembered the blood dripping from his left leg as Remus carried him out of the Death Chamber.

"I'm afraid I have something to attend to," Dumbledore said. "Excuse me."

He walked out of the hospital wing without so much as a glance at Astrid. Ignoring Madame Pomfrey's shouts, she ran after him.

"Hello, Astrid. I'm afraid now is not the best time to chat," Dumbledore said calmly.

Astrid frowned at him. She hadn't thought about what she was going to say until now. At least the corridors were empty- all the other students were at breakfast.

"Let's go to my office."

This was the first time that Astrid really saw the headmaster's office. There was lots of expensive looking trinkets and tools on his desk, and his phoenix was standing proudly on his perch. She looked back at Dumbledore, and all of her anger came flooding back.

"Astrid, I wanted to speak with you about the events of last night."

"What about them?" She grumbled, crossing her arms.

"I was under the assumption that you and Jackson were going to be able to prevent events like these, and I would like to know what went wrong," Dumbledore said smoothly, sitting behind his desk with a blank face.

"Sirius didn't die- I'd say it was a successful mission," she said shortly.

"But was there a way to avoid going all together?"

"Have you met Harry? He was going to go either way! What were we supposed to do?"

"Astrid-"

She knew Dumbledore was doing his best, and that he didn't have the same hindsight she always had, but she didn't care.

"And we're fifteen! It's impossible for me and Jackson to take all of this on single-handedly! You should be grateful that no one died! You're pulling the same thing you do with Harry- every year he deals with killer snakes or Voldemort coming back to life or whatever while you're doing god knows what!"

"Well, in this case-"

"In this case you disappeared! Professor McGonagall and Hagrid were gone, there was nothing we could do!" Astrid shouted.

"Professor Snape was still here at the time-"

"Harry told Snape! And Snape stopping giving Harry Occlumency lessons months ago, so I don't wa-!" Astrid stopped short when Dumbledore stood up from his chair.

"Astrid, I have no desire to argue with you about this. I've told Jackson before that it's a waste of energy since we are on the same side."

"I am on Harry's side, not yours," she said shortly. Dumbledore was quiet for a moment, leaning on his desk.

"Is that not the same side?"

"For being on Harry's side, you send him on a lot of suicide missions. You do a great job of fighting Voldemort, but you expect Harry to die by the end of this. That's not being on his team."

Dumbledore frowned at her, and she did her best not to break eye contact. "I am sure Jackson is expecting you in the hospital wing."

She stared at him for a few seconds and left without saying anything else.

"Astrid! We were just looking for you," Remus said. She was walking slowly back to the hospital wing, not paying enough attention to where she was going when she ran into him.

"I was talking to Dumbledore."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes."

Remus made a face as if he didn't believe her, but didn't mention it on their way back to the hospital wing.

"Poppy said you were thinking of becoming a Healer?"

"Oh, um... maybe. That's what Professor McGonagall suggested at our career advice meeting." Astrid still hadn't thought about her future past Hogwarts and really didn't want to.

Thankfully, their walk was short, and she didn't have to make any more conversation. Jackson was awake when they got to the hospital wing, sitting up in bed. Remus left to talk to Madame Pomfrey.

"Az! Where'd you go?" Jackson asked.

"I was talking to Dumbledore."

"You were yelling at Dumbledore," Jackson corrected. Astrid frowned at him before nodding noncommittally. "What'd he say?"

"I'll tell you later," she said, sitting on her bed. "I did a lot of shouting, and he said he didn't wanna argue with me and sent me away."

"Was he at least proud? We saved Sirius' life."

"No. That's why I was arguing."

Jackson frowned at that and looked away from Astrid.

"Are you okay? Madame Pomfrey was being very ominous yesterday when we got back."

"Oh, yeah," Jackson said nonchalantly. "She said I'd need to go to St. Mungo's for rehab, but I don't need two legs to play Quidditch."

"Christ, Jackson! What happened?"

"Bellatrix used the Severing Curse, and my shield wasn't big enough. I'm fine, though, really," he insisted.

"Amputees aren't just 'fine', Jackson. Not the day after it happened."

"But I am. And it's walking- I'll breeze through the rehab like its nothing."

Astrid glared at him for a moment. "Your confidence is a curse."

"What? No, it's great! I mean, Sirius is alive, right? If it wasn't for me-"

"Don't finish that sentence- you are not going to take credit for all of that," Astrid hissed. "I mean, it's your blessing-curse thing! Time's gift or whatever. You didn't study enough for exams; you were too comfortable fighting Death Eaters; and you tried to single-handedly duel Bellatrix fucking Lestrange!"

"And it's fine!"

"No, that's where the curse part comes in. Your confidence is great sometimes- like last night, you were very clear-headed and calm, but you won't take fault for it. It's both."

"But it all worked out!"

"For now! Jackson, this is the kind of thing that could kill you one day!"

Jackson frowned at her again, but didn't argue. "Fred is here somewhere. He went looking for you when we woke up and you were gone."

"What? Since when?"

Astrid could tell that Jackson wanted to tease her about it, but he didn't. She also knew he was just trying to get her to stop being mad at him.

"Sometime last night. He's probably headed for the common room."

Astrid stood up, glaring at Jackson half-heartedly one last time. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"One hundred percent!" Jackson grinned widely at her. "Madame Pomfrey probably wants to have a long, boring conversation, so bail while you still can."

"Thanks, Jack."

She was still shaking her head fondly when she left the hospital wing. The Great Hall was filled with students at breakfast, so Astrid's walk up to the common room was uninterrupted.

There was almost no one there, either, but Harry had passed out on the couch in front of the fireplace.

"Harry! Wake up!"

He sat up quickly, almost knocking their foreheads together.

"Astrid? Where is everyone?"

"They're all still in the hospital wing, and everyone else is at breakfast. Why are you sleeping on the couch?" Astrid asked. Harry moved his legs off the couch so she could sit down next to him.

"I wasn't planning on it. I was talking to Dumbledore, then I was going to stay up until I could visit you guys. I- is everyone-"

"Everyone's fine, Harry."

"I just- If I had listened to you guys, none of this would have happened."

"But everyone is all right. Plus, I still pin all the blame on Snape."

"Why? I'm still the one that always puts everyone in danger!"

Astrid frowned at him. "Did Dumbledore tell you about the prophecy?"

"Yes, but-"

"What'd it say?"

Now Harry was frowning at her. He rubbed his eyes and tried to push his bangs off his face. "Um, it said there was someone with the power to kill Voldemort."

"That's you, right?"

"I guess. The prophecy made it sound like it could be someone else, but Dumbledore said it's me. And it said neither can live while the other survives. Someone about how one had to kill the other," he said tiredly.

"So, it's you. You have to kill him."

"I mean, yeah. I have to."

"Then we're behind you. If you're the one who has to do it, then we'll fight for you."

"But why? I never asked for this! I'm fifteen, I can't kill Voldemort."

"Why are we fighting Voldemort, or why are we behind you? Those are both the same answers, dude," Astrid explained, slumping against the couch cushions.

Harry closed his eyes, resting his chin on his hand.

"When we were in the Department of Mysteries, and I was looking at my prophecy, you told me to leave it, and that you'd explain later. What were you talking about?"

Astrid blinked at him. "I didn't think you'd remember that."

"You're making it sound like a bad thing."

"I just didn't want you to pick up the prophecy. That's what Voldemort wanted, and why he sent us all there."

"But how did you know? How did you and Jackson know where everyone was? How do you guys just know everything?"

Astrid sighed. She knew they weren't being as careful as they should have been, but she thought no one had noticed.

"I'll tell you later. After all of this is over. You have to trust us."

Harry did not have time to reply since the portrait hole burst open.

"There you are!" Fred all but shouted, jumping over the back of the couch to sit next to Astrid. "Where've you been?"

"I was talking to Dumbledore, then I saw Jackson, and now I'm here. When did you get here?"

"Last night. Nobody would tell me anything, what happened?"

Harry looked guiltily into the fire again, and Astrid frowned. 

"Come on, I'm sure everyone is awake by now. Plus, I don't wanna be here when everyone gets back."

Everyone was up when they got to the hospital wing. Ron and Ginny were fine, but Hermione was quiet. Madame Pomfrey explained that the curse that Dolohov used on her made it painful to talk. They were all sitting around Jackson's bed.

"Hey, we're going down to the kitchens, if anyone wants anything," Astrid offered, but no one took it. She pulled Fred out of the wing again before he could ask any questions.

"We're going to the kitchens?"

"I don't know. I figured you wanted to understand what was going on and I didn't want to explain with an audience. I bet they'll be hungry later, though, so we should bring something."

Astrid followed Fred down several flights of stairs and was quiet while he talked to the House Elves.

"So," Fred started, sitting on the love seat in front of the large, brick fireplace.

"So? How far should I go back? How much do you know?"

"I don't know anything, yet. It was around midnight when Lupin and Kingsley Floo'd into our living room, talking to mum and dad about how you all broke into the Ministry and were being attacked."

"Jesus, that sounds scary. Did they just leave you all there?"

"Yeah. We wanted to come with, but they said no. If I had known you were going on a suicide mission, I'd have never left in the first place."

"Very funny, Fred."

"I'm serious! What was I supposed to think? You'd broken into the Ministry of Magic for jokes?"

"No, but it'd be a great joke," Astrid mumbled. "Fine, I'll tell you the whole story," she said when she noticed how serious he was. "Harry had a vision in the middle of our last exam. He said Voldemort had taken Sirius into the Department of Mysteries."

Fred was quiet the whole time, drawing small circles into the back of her hand with his thumb.

"And Bellatrix got Tonks and was heading towards Sirius. Tonks is fine, she's at St. Mungo's. But that's when Sirius-” 

Astrid cut herself off abruptly.

"When Sirius...?"

She stared at him for a few moments. This is stupid and reckless.

"Okay, what I'm about to tell you sounds absurd and impossible, but you're not allowed to tell anybody."

Fred nodded, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Promise?"

"What, do you want to make an Unbreakable Vow?" He asked with a small smile.

"No, but it'd make me feel better if you promised. You're already making me second guess myself."

He looked at her again with an unreadable expression. "I promise."

"Okay. Cool," Astrid muttered, facing the fireplace again and frowning. "Jackson and I are from the future."

"We already knew that."

"I know. That's the least absurd part."

Fred looked at her quizzically again, with the hint of a smile on his lips.

"This is a hypothetical scenario, and is not true and has absolutely no value," Astrid added for good measure.

"All right. Are you going to tell me tell me, then?"

She frowned at him again and almost changed her mind.

"It's an alternate future where you are all the main characters of a fictional book series."

He burst out laughing at this and covered his smile with his hand as if that would help.

"You're not allowed to laugh!"

"That wasn't part of the criteria!"

"It is now! Forget it, I knew it was a bad idea."

"I'm sorry, okay? Look, I wasn't prepared. I won't laugh," Fred said earnestly, and he'd stopped laughing.

"I'm being serious, Fred."

"About the hypothetical?"

"Yes!"

He nodded, forcing the smile off of his face, and turning to face her on the couch.

"That's how we know everything. Like you and George leaving school, and the spells we're not supposed to use. That's why we kicked Marietta Edgecombe out of the D.A., even though it didn't work."

"That spell you used on Malfoy? The one you weren't supposed to know?"

"Yes, are you still stuck on that?"

"It was very suspicious, Astrid."

"It wasn't a spell that comes up until next year, written in Harry's used Potions book."

Fred wasn't looking at her anymore, but staring into the fireplace.

"How does it end?"

"Fred..."

"Hypothetically? I won't ask any details. Do we win?"

Astrid stared at him again. He looked the same as he did when she last saw him, but he wasn't smiling, not even a little.

"Yes, but I really can't tell you anything about it. Can I finish the story about Bellatrix and Sirius?" 

Fred nodded, but didn't look at her.

"She kills him, in this hypothetical scenario. After she defeats Tonks. But Jackson, being the idiot he is, jumps in front of her. He's fine, all things considered. Do you know what he told me when he woke up this morning?"

Fred shook his head, and made eye contact with her again, still absentmindedly rubbing the back of her hand.

"He broke the news to me by saying he doesn't need two legs to play Quidditch."

"He lost a leg?"

"His left one. He keeps telling me he's fine, though, like losing a leg is fine!"

"Of all the people to be fine with it, he'd be the one."

"Of course he is. He didn't study for any of the exams and he still thinks he passed all of them."

"That's what me and George did."

"Jackson doesn't have a brilliant joke shop plan to fall back on. He's stuck here for another two years."

"And he knows everything, too?"

"Hypothetically, yes. But don't tell him I told you, he'd be super mad."

"I won't. So, what happens next?" Fred said with a smile.

"Huh? Oh, we should probably go back upstairs. They'll think we're doing something dirty."

Fred burst out laughing and shook his head. "No, I mean-!" He laughed again. "I mean in the book. Hypothetically. What happens next? Anything important for you to worry about?"

"I don't think so. Everything is super different now. Nothing really exciting ever happens until the end of the school year, maybe? Nothing that needs a ton of forethought."

"What happens?"

"I can't tell you until it happens."

"Well, what can you tell me about the future?"

Astrid rolled her eyes at him.

"Nothing, probably. I wasn't supposed to tell you anything in the first place."

"That's no fun!"

"I'll tell you what everyone else thinks of you guys, in the hypothetical scenario where you don't really exist. You and George are a hit. The Harry Potter franchise has seven books and eight movies- you guys make for great comic relief."

"Merlin, who would want to read seven books?"

"They're not bad, although they're a bit inaccurate."

"How so?"

"Everyone is as straight as an arrow," Astrid explained, and laughed at Fred's absurd expression. "And the movies makes Ron seem like an absolute git."

"Ron is an absolute git!"

"He's not bad, in the grand scheme of things. They give all of his good lines to Hermione and take out most of the times he tries to fight everyone."

"If they left in all the times he fought someone, it'd be an eight-hour movie. Who is everyone's favorite character?"

"Favorite as in best written? Or favorite as in most liked?"

"All of it."

"Well, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are the main three, so they're usually at the top."

"Fair enough."

"Then, it's up for debate. A lot of people really like Snape."

"What? Why?"

"He's a spy for the good side. And he did it for love, or whatever."

"Snape doesn't feel love!"

"I agree. He was in love with Harry's mom, I guess, so he becomes a spy for Dumbledore. He does a good job, and is brave, or whatever. I think being a dick to children makes you a bad person, though."

"Wait, Harry's mom?"

"Yeah, that's why he hated James so much. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, he is fighting for the right side, but I still don't like him. He's like, at least thirty characters down the list or something."

"All right, who else?"

"Well, Dumbledore is up in the top ten for most people, with Remus and Sirius. It depends on the list, usually people vote and a lot of times they're wildly different. Luna, Ginny, and Neville are usually in the top fifteen. They usually count you and George as one character, and sometimes it's in the top ten, and usually it's after Draco Malfoy."

"What? What good is Malfoy?"

"He's not a bad person. This is why I wanted to be his friend! At the end of book six, he was going to change to the good side, but then other Death Eaters show up, and he can't."

"I still think we should be above him on the list, though."

"I agree."

"Did you agree when you first read the books, or are you just saying that now that we're dating?"

"I've always said that! Hermione was always my favorite, though. I suppose I can change my answer."

"But you're not counting me and George as one character, right?"

"Right. I have no romantic feelings for your super gay twin brother."

"Good. I was worried. This hypothetical has a lot of details."

"That's what makes it so absurd."

Astrid laughed at him before standing up and stretching.

"Come on, it's been ages, and Ron is probably going to eat a table if he doesn't get some food soon.

"You're right, hold on." He when to talk to Dobby again, and gave him a pouch of coins. "They'll usually send food wherever you want if you ask them."

"All right, come on, then. I don't want Remus to be mad at me for disappearing."

Fred stopped her again, this time with two hands around her waist.

"What?" She asked, this time blushing.

Fred leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, softly. Before she got the chance to kiss back, he pulled away.

"Just that."

"You could've asked, you know."

"I know- it's more fun this way."

She had to stand on her toes, but she managed to capture his lips again by tugging on the front of his jacket. Fred still smelled like his cologne (which reminded Astrid of something woodsy and rainy) and gunpowder, but it was masked from the hours spent in the hospital wing.

"Freddie, I can't kiss you if you keep smiling," Astrid lamented, rolling back on her heels.

"I'm sorry- I can't help it!"

"Come on, you nerd," she said pulled him by the hand out of the kitchens. They were both laughing, trying to avoid the Hufflepuffs who were still trickling through the hallways after breakfast.

"Remember, you can't say anything about the hypothetical," she reminded him, letting go of his hand when they reached the door to the hospital wing.

"I know. I promised. Plus, we've said the word hypothetical so many times it's lost all meaning."

When the doors opened, Ron immediately stood up and marched over to them. "I thought you said you were bringing food!"

"It's coming! They're still making it," Astrid said, going back to her bed and sitting next to Hermione. Fred sat behind her, leaning against the headboard.

"I was just asking Jackson where you two were staying over the summer," Hermione said, turning the attention away from Ron's pouting face. She was still talking quietly, almost whispering.

"I don't know," Astrid answered. "Is Remus still here? I would guess that we'd stay with him- he signed our permission slips, so I figure he's the closest parent we've got right now. Or we could stay at the Burrow, if that's all right." Fred squeezed her hand. "With your parents, I mean. We might stay at St. Mungo's more often than not, anyway."

Jackson looked like he wanted to retort, but Astrid glared at him.

"Madame Pomfrey asked me a bunch of questions about you," Ginny said, turning to Astrid from the chair beside her bed. "She's been raving about you being a Healer."

"She has? I didn't even do anything," she mumbled, fumbling with the loose thread on her sweater again.

"You did, though. Back when I was a first year, one of the teachers tried to fix Harry's broken arm and removed all the bones in it. Madame Pomfrey kept going on about how you're a natural, and how you had the common sense not to make things worse."

"Really, fixing a broken nose isn't that big a deal!"

"She wants you to assist her next year, said she'd mentor you herself."

"Christ, I don't know anything about healing!"

"She said you'd told Professor McGonagall that's what you wanted to study."

"I didn't know you wanted to be a Healer," Fred said, sitting up a bit straighter.

"I didn't know either, until our career meeting a month ago. She asked me what I wanted to do after school back home, so I said medicine and psychology. If I had known it would be so important, I wouldn't have said anything," Astrid mumbled.

"You don't have to, right?" Fred reminded her.

"But I want to. I'm just already behind in my studies and so many other things..."

"Think about it," Ginny suggested. "I'm sure it's not legally binding, or anything."

Soon, Fred had to go back to the joke shop, and squeezed Astrid's hand goodbye. Ginny and Luna had to go to class the next day since they still had exams.

Remus came back to offer Jackson and Astrid a place to stay. He said he'd been staying the night at Grimmauld Place with Sirius, and there were plenty of extra bedrooms. And when he was gone (he said he had work for the Order), they could stay at the Burrow if they wanted.

Jackson and Astrid left Hogwarts through the hospital wing's fireplace, since - although he insisted he could - Jackson couldn't make the trip down to Hogsmeade Station. Ron and Harry helped Astrid pack his trunk, and she hauled everything through the fireplace to where Remus was waiting.

She headed back to help Jackson through, but he didn't want it. Instead, he tripped into St. Mungo's waiting room, and Remus had to stop him from falling flat on his face. They waiting with Jackson while he sat in his own hospital room, sat on a stool getting fit for prosthetics.

It was clear when they got back to Grimmauld Place that Jackson was exhausted, but he didn't say anything. Remus apparated him up to the bedroom since they didn't want to help him hobble up two flights of rickety stairs.

Astrid sat at the island with her head down in her arms, but looked up when Remus came back downstairs. “What?” 

"So, Fred...," he stared, trailing off so he wouldn't have to address it.

"Hey, you were flipping out enough about Malfoy- we like Fred. There's nothing suspicious about him this time," she pointed out.

"Look, I know I'm not your dad, but I just want you to be safe and happy," he said honestly, staring at the tile counter top. 

"I mean, you're the closest thing we've ever had to a parent. It's okay with us if you had guidance of any kind. Jackson and I have eaten nothing but canned TV dinners until we got here at Christmas."

"Really? But what about your mom and...?"

"Rick, the step-dad? They’re not around much. Working, or out drinking or something. It was better when they weren't around, anyways."

"I'm sorry, Astrid. Sounds awful."

"It's fine," she said, shrugging. "We turned out okay. And so did Harry, and he had worse, probably."

"I'll take your word for it, but I have questions."

"Like what?" Astrid asked, giving Remus a tired but amused smile.

"Like allergies, birthdays, that sort of thing. Parenting things."

"I don't think we have any allergies. And August fifteenth. Um," Astrid muttered, tapping her fingers on the counter. "Oh- I've been in my punk phase for like, a decade, but I think it's mostly faded."

"Thank Merlin," Remus said with a tired laugh. "Sirius has been punk for about thirty years. If I see one more useless safety pin, I might combust. Although, I don't know how this relates to parenting."

"It has everything to do with parenting! Half of being punk is rebelling against your parents," Astrid explained. 

"That makes sense. Well, I'm glad it's mostly over, so I can tell you to go to bed without you rebelling."

"I'm not complaining," Astrid laughed, and gave him a quick hug before heading up the stairs. Jackson's room was right across from hers, so she peeked in, glad that this door was one of the few that didn't squeak.

He was snoring and sprawled out on top of the duvet.

She closed the door as quietly as possible and went into her own room. It wasn't small- it was bigger than her room was at home. 

Astrid changed and climbed into bed. Even though it was cold in the house, she had a warm feeling in her chest, and fell asleep easily. 


End file.
